Hurricane Richard

[TVMet]

Looks to make a direct hit, just south of Belize City, Sunday evening.

[crewsweeper]

Looks to make a direct hit, just south of Belize City, Sunday evening.

Yep! Not going to be a good early week in the Western. trailing seas will be rough until Wednesday or Thursday. Let hope the cays get through okay. Batten down Wade. :)

 

But the T.V. should hold up pretty good unless Richard really intensifies.

[TVMet]

Looks to make a direct hit, just south of Belize City, Sunday evening.

 

Belize City gusted to 55 mph in the last observation at 8 pm. The eye has gone in just to their south. Belize City appears to have been in the eyewall.

[wadethegringo]

Yep! Not going to be a good early week in the Western. trailing seas will be rough until Wednesday or Thursday. Let hope the cays get through okay. Batten down Wade. :)

 

But the T.V. should hold up pretty good unless Richard really intensifies.

 

10 pm local time

 

 

All good here in San Pedro. Tropic sent all their planes to Flores Guatemala at mid-day.We were at Crazy Cunucks, A beach bar. Until the afternoon. All bars were to close by 6pm by law. So just wind and rain here. You could surf on the reef today. Looks like 20foot waves crashing on the reef.

The Mainland is getting it worse than the Cayes.

I am posting some pictures. I will update soon.

[wadethegringo]

No water here in San Pedro. It looks like the mainland got hit more than the Cayes.

Here are some pictures and Videos. I will add to them as morning comes.

 

 

[wadethegringo]

Apparently & thankfully no loss of life country-wide.

 

Seems like a fair amount of property & tree damage in Belize City & Belmopan (according to LoveFM)

 

Nothing much on the radio right now about conditions in these areas.

 

No school today anywhere in the country.

 

All Clear should be announced a little later today.

[wadethegringo]

Here is a morning after shot from 6am North Ambergris Caye

[alexandra cruiser]

glad not TOO bad,,,coming there next month,,,,good not too much damage or injuries...:)

[wolfganghowell]

Thanks for the updates - glad to hear people are safe, sorry to hear about property damage. We look forward to seeing Belize in about 6 weeks.

[crewsweeper]

Thanks for the reports Wade....glad you folks down there are all okay.

 

crew

[wadethegringo]

Belize Municipal Airstrip. TZA. The airstrip cruisers would use to fly to the Cayes is closed today until further notice due to damage.. We are only flying into the International BZE. That Airport is about a half hour away from Belize City

[wadethegringo]

San Pedro had no damage. Belize City did not do so well.

 

 

 

But the worst was yet to come. Twenty-four hours after the passage of Richard, the picture of the devastation began to emerge. The Category one hurricane slammed into Belize City with a vengeance. The hurricane force winds caused the collapse of wooden houses throughout the city. Trees tumbled atop some houses or fell across streets, electricity was interrupted and central and southern Belize was plunged into darkness. Thousands sought refuge at shelters and others were sorry they braved it at home.

[alexandra cruiser]

Not only for residents but those of us visiting soon, wonder if ships will still stop there if damage not cleared and back to normal????Leaving next month,....know it took quite some time for Orlando area to get back after Hurricane Charlie...had no power,lots of tree damage,etc....incl 3 trees on my house....not fun.....so sad....anyone else concerned about this stop now???:confused:

[tampadee]

We're booked for a cave tubing excursion. Does anyone know if there is damage there?

[caribsun]

I just heard on the TV news that when the hurricane went through Belize City a Jaguar escaped from the city zoo and attack and killed a man. Local authorities are warning citizens to stay clear of forest areas.

[Moongazer]

Here is a morning after shot from 6am North Ambergris Caye

Wadethegringo,

I'm hearing mixed info regarding the condition of Bannister Caye. I have a tour there next month. Tour operator says it will be cleaned up in a couple of weeks but another tour operator says it is closed indefinately and may never open. Any word on that?

[wadethegringo]

Wadethegringo,

I'm hearing mixed info regarding the condition of Bannister Caye. I have a tour there next month. Tour operator says it will be cleaned up in a couple of weeks but another tour operator says it is closed indefinitely and may never open. Any word on that?

 

Bannister is a privately owned island. I am not sure of the status. I will ask around and see if I can find out anything out.

[Jacob's Mom]

Does anyone know if ships are stopping this week? We are scheduled to stop next week on Thursday?

[crewsweeper]

Does anyone know if ships are stopping this week? We are scheduled to stop next week on Thursday?

Hard to say...Carnival Triumph was scheduled for yesterday...nothing on Carnival board indicating it did not. Norweigan Pearl is suppose to be in today, but webcam shows only bow and if in the bow is pointed away from land, plus they anchor a ways out and it's sometimes difficult to see land from the ship. Carnival Legend and Valor are both due in tomorrow so maybe if they miss port someone will chirp up. However, I doubt there'll be any lingering reason for ships to avoid Belize City next week. Wind and rain damage, while destructive wasn't devastating.

[shannonh]

I just received a message from my son who is on the Carnival Valor that their visit tomorrow (Thursday) to Belize has been canceled. They will now be visiting Costa Maya instead.

[Jacob's Mom]

I just received a message from my son who is on the Carnival Valor that their visit tomorrow (Thursday) to Belize has been canceled. They will now be visiting Costa Maya instead.

 

Thanks for the update!!

[alexandra cruiser]

:(and not from zoo,,but private collection...sad for animal,,but safe for humans,,,,now if the rest of Belize can get back to normal.....should have a good time on cruise next month.....;)

[Irishlinny]

Regarding Bannister Island, Ecotours also confirmed that it is closed until further notice.:( We were supposed to be there 2 weeks from today. I guess we'll make it an extra sea day.

So glad to hear that it doesn't sound like there was loss of life there...but Wade's pics of Belize City are very sad:(

[wadethegringo]

Thanks for the update!!

 

Tonight we can confirm that the Carnival Triumph cancelled its stop-over in Belize today and on Thursday, the Carnival’s Valor will also not dock in Belize. The industry stands to lose, we are told by sources, in the range of a million Belize dollars, due to the cancellations. There is no confirmation yet on any cancellations for Friday or next week and we will follow-up on that. But we do know that the reasons for the cancellations are because the rain markers and the buoys were damaged by Hurricane Richard.

http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/391231/2_cruise_ships_cancel_their_po.html#Post391231

[Irishlinny]

Thanks for the updates, Wade. What a shame...

The Legend should have been there today, too...wonder why they didn't mention it. Hope the port is able to get the ships in soon and get those dollars back in...