Flooding, Deaths Left In Wake
Over the weekend, Keith reached the potentially devastating grade of Category 4 hurricane at its peak. It ripped through the tiny Central American nation of Belize with winds of 135 mph and caused 15 deaths in Belize,Honduras and Nicaragua.
The worst hit areas were the Belizean tourist islands of Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye, and the north of Belize, a former British colony nestled between Guatemala and Mexico.
Nicaragua's Civil Defense Service said many of those killed were swept away in their attempts to cross roads over swollen rivers. It said 3,962 people had been evacuated
Local officials estimated the damage in the millions of dollars. Belize began restoring its coral-fringed cays to their natural beauty on Wednesday ahead of the approaching tourist season, Prime Minister Said Musa said.
Belize also called a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent looting and declared parts of the country of 250,000 people disaster areas.
Keith gradually weakened as it moved inland from Central America and crossed the Yucatan peninsula on Tuesday, having already dumped up to 30 inches of rain.
The rains left vast swatches of flooding in the southeastern Mexican states of Tabasco and Quintana Roo and made a number of highways and roads impassable in the southern state of Chiapas, according to television
reports.


chris considine