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#PrayForTheFourMarys

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    #PrayForTheFourMarys

    Earl soon come.

    My first hurricane (and Belize's first in six years) will hit the cayes in around 3 hours from now (sooo... 7pm-ish Mountain Standard Time), roar into Belize City (which sits an average 2-4 INCHES above sea level) with sea swells of 4-12 feet around 10-11pm and, according to latest projections, pass right over my house just outside the capital Belmopan between 2 and 4am Thursday (around 8 to 10am UK).

    Fun fun fun.

    Weather right now is typical October, wet season fare. Rainy, swirling wind, Manchester skies, but nothing out of the ordinary. Went into town around midday and the supermarkets were full and seeing intense shopping but not panic-buying and there were lines at the gas pumps but otherwise things seemed pretty serene and everyday.

    As I said, first time, so a level of excitement and dread comes with that but most Belizeans (even those in shelters) have seen it all before and aren't much fussed about a category 1 storm.

    I'm confident that I've done all I can to prepare and am planning to go to sleep in my bed normally tonight in the wooden first floor of my house, with an emergency stash ready to go in the concrete ground floor.

    So bring it on, "Earl". ROCK ME LIKE A HURRICANE!

    #2
    #PrayForTheFourMarys

    Good luck! Let us know how exciting it is.

    It's possible you'll sleep right through it. That has been my underwhelming anecdote from my first two decent sized earthquakes.

    Comment


      #3
      #PrayForTheFourMarys

      Good luck. We're all counting on you.

      Comment


        #4
        #PrayForTheFourMarys

        7.09 pm. Definitely the calm before the storm.

        There's an eerie, pregnant stillness to the air. Normally at this time, just after darkness has fallen the birds would still be making a racket in the light bush I live in, but tonight it's all frogs - both bullfrogs and local "Quacking frogs", who do indeed quack. All I can say is that Paul McCartney lied, a frog chorus palls pretty quickly.

        I don't tend to listen to local Belizean radio at all, so tonight is a bit of a revelation that the deep-bass announcer on the radio, although speaking in Received Pronunciation English, is still somewhat hard for me to understand through his thick Belizean Kriol accent.

        It's not a problem while I still have t'internet and phone and I can understand enough to work out the NEMO updates.

        Truth be told, with the entire country stopped as it is, it's a bit tedious just waiting for the damn thing to hit. Come on, Earl, get yer arse in gear!

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          #5
          #PrayForTheFourMarys

          Good luck to the four of you. Keep yours head down.

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            #6
            #PrayForTheFourMarys

            Seconded

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              #7
              #PrayForTheFourMarys

              1am Mountain.

              Okay. Officially DO. NOT. LIKE. THIS. NOW.

              I hereby withdraw my earlier come-on to Earl. Hat tip: DON'T FUCKING GOAD A HURRICANE!

              If this is only a category 1 Hurricane - and we're still three hours from the worst of it - then I certainly want no part of a 2,3,4 or 5.

              This is utterly fucking terrifying.

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                #8
                #PrayForTheFourMarys

                TheFourMarys wrote: 1am Mountain.

                Okay. Officially DO. NOT. LIKE. THIS. NOW.

                I hereby withdraw my earlier come-on to Earl. Hat tip: DON'T FUCKING GOAD A HURRICANE!

                If this is only a category 1 Hurricane - and we're still three hours from the worst of it - then I certainly want no part of a 2,3,4 or 5.

                This is utterly fucking terrifying.
                Stay safe. Good luck.

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                  #9
                  #PrayForTheFourMarys

                  Indeed. Take care of yourselves people.

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                    #10
                    #PrayForTheFourMarys

                    TheFourMarys wrote:
                    It's not a problem while I still have t'internet and phone and I can understand enough to work out the NEMO updates.
                    I'm pretty sure they found him, if that helps. I think it's DORY they are looking for now, but they'll probably call off the search if that's how the weather is.

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                      #11
                      #PrayForTheFourMarys

                      And all the best with that scary shit you're trying to get through. Obviously.

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                        #12
                        #PrayForTheFourMarys

                        Good luck Marys.

                        A lifetime of supporting Sporting Lisburn Distillery will help get you through the ordeal.

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                          #13
                          #PrayForTheFourMarys

                          Jeebus. Sounds scary stuff.
                          Hang in there chap.

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                            #14
                            #PrayForTheFourMarys

                            Agree with all above, sounds terrifying. Stay safe pal.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              #PrayForTheFourMarys

                              I'm guessing all telecoms are down still? :-/

                              Comment


                                #16
                                #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                Apologies if anyone was worried. Power only back on a couple of hours ago.

                                Long, terrifying night followed by hard day of clearing roads of felled trees and helping families in Belmopan fixing their zinc roofs. Surprisingly little rain in the aftermath, which is a blessing as the rivers are at dangerously high levels.

                                Both my house and my Mum's in-progress retirement house survived fine. I lost my satellite dish (unused, because Mexican Dish Network is shite) and car got a bang from a (dearly departed) kennel but little damage to house barring some water coming in through the louver (sp?) windows. Top floor is wood while ground floor, of "bunker" shed and more liveable space with bathroom,"underhouse" is concrete. Bunker was flooded out as it sits below the wood verandah but underhouse stayed dry as a bone.

                                First hurricane and quickly learned my errors of preparation (eg Buy Maglites not cheap Chinese shite if you need good night vision in a storm), and it all aids preparedness for next time.

                                We live about two miles into grassy bush by the main Belize River just outside the capital Belmopan - My neighbours directly across the river incidentally are former Charlton and WBA striker Andy Hunt and his wife, early 90s MTV VJ Simone - and are surrounded on three sides by forested riverbank. Or at least we were. The riverside canopy looked to have lost as much as half of its old, tall trees to damage and destruction. I was relieved to hear the Howler Monkeys late this afternoon.

                                Took about an hour of our 2004 GMC Sierra pick up inching up the wet bedrock single track that's the only way in and out of our land, and some serious machete time, to get all the fallen trees out of our path. Miraculously all the power lines that run down that track were still standing undamaged. The same cannot be said for an absentee neighbour's Nissen Hut, the dome of which was still standing but both ends had blown in.

                                Belmopan itself was quiet. Very few stores open (mostly those Taiwanese-run supermarkets where the owners live on site). Most of the traffic was government and utilities vehicles heading to trouble spots. Huge number of trees blown down all over town. Went to lend a hand In the Las Flores neighbourhood where the atmosphere was almost festive as folks pitched in moving from house to house fixing roofs and chopping fallen trees. Good times.

                                Belize is so small that the majority of the country was in Earl's path and people are saying that it felt more intense than a Category 1 Hurricane usually does. The eye passed over Belmopan at 2.20am (I know this because our desperate attempts to stop the windows caving in from the wind went from one side of the house to the other right around then) and passed on through the main inland tourist town of San Ignacio about an hour later before passing over to (thankfully sparsely populated corners of) Guatemala and Mexico.

                                Thankfully no deaths have been reported as yet but the rivers are still rising and the damage to the low lying coastal towns where most of Belize's population lives will be extensive. Word is trickling in from the tourist-haven Cayes (pronounced same as Keys) but obviously damage there will be large. We're all on tenterhooks now as we wait for official word on the state of the Barrier Reef.

                                All in all though, the mood seems to be good. Defiant and hopeful. Belizeans are resilient folk.

                                As for me: As I said last night: If that's a 'one', I will NOT be around for a cat 2 or above. Truly terrifying. And I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience.

                                (Home and hurricane insurance is a pipe dream for most Belizeans and many families will have been left destitute by Earl. If there's any fundraising organised for relief I'll try to pass on links here).

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                  Sounds incredible. I'm grateful for the things I never have to think about - like choosing the best night vision.

                                  Getting to yarn over the fence with former top flight footballers must make up for it, though (well, if you still have a fence).

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                                    #18
                                    #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                    Glad you're ok, Marys.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                      I posted a post about TheFourMarys' plight on Facebook's OTF page, last night, which consisted of a very nice satellite photo combined with this link.

                                      Here's the image:

                                      -

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                                        #20
                                        #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                        Glad you're safe mate. Sounds like quite an experience.

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                                          #21
                                          #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                          Great to hear you're OK T4M and thanks for taking the time to paint the picture. What a terrifying experience, but it's great to see there are still good people in the world, helping each other out.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                            people are saying that it felt more intense than a Category 1 Hurricane usually does.
                                            Imagine living somewhere where you get blasé about hurricanes. "No, that was a tiddler. I remember in 1993 ..."

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                              Great to hear you're OK T4M.

                                              Here's an article about your neighbours:
                                              http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1232122/Beyond-jungle-Dome-Presenter-Simone-Angel-family-selling-Belize--heading-media-world.html

                                              You're too young to retire T4M, are you just working remotely from Belize or do you have a local gig?

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                                Glad to hear you are OK.

                                                At the risk of running a trite comparison, the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch simulates the usual conditions to be found at the South Pole, including five minutes or so where they drop the temperature and simulate a blizzard at -40C.

                                                It isn't as much fun as it sounds.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  #PrayForTheFourMarys

                                                  That all sounds petrifying. I'm glad to hear that you're through it fine, and that everyone seems to be working together to fix the chaos.

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