HURRICANE MITCH

In the final days of October 1998, hurricane Mitch brought death and disaster to much of Central America. Especially hard hit were Honduras and Nicaragua, but Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador did not escape unscathed. Although "Mitch" did not directly strike our location here on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, it came very close and we spent several anxious days in the "strike zone".

During this time, Capt. Nemo's Communications posted weather reports and storm track predictions (via Intellicast on the Internet) as soon as they became available and we became a focal point for the latest information on the storm. Many yachts are harbored here and there was a great deal of interest from the boaters who were out of the country and concerned for the welfare of their yachts. Because of the volume of information requests, Capt. Nemo's published a daily newsletter via the Internet. We handled an enormous amount of email and telephone traffic for our customers during this time.

Later we became a clearing house for damage reports and health and welfare information for this area. Our many contacts provided good information from the field and we became a source of information for several embassies located in Guatemala.

We would like to acknowledge Intellicast for providing vital weather information to us via the Internet. A link to their web site can be found on our links page. Below is a sequence of satellite photos showing the progress of the storm and how close it came to us in Rio Dulce.

Here in Rio Dulce, we barely escaped the really severe weather but an area of heavy weather did pass about 50 miles to the south of us causing a great deal of damage along the Motagua River valley. The banana plantations and many of the towns surrounding Morales / Bananera were flooded and buried under mud and silt. Many homes are buried up to the roof in mud. Some families were trapped on top of their homes for 3 days. One story told of the water rising so quickly that the front door was jammed shut and the family was trapped inside the house until the water rose sufficiently for them to escape through the roof. Most of the banana plantations in that area a ruined and it will take the better part of a year to repair the damage to the facilities and replant new banana trees.

Here in Rio Dulce, we caught just the northern edge of this weather cell but it was still enough to cause significant flooding and raise the level of the Rio Dulce higher than anyone here can remember. Most homes and businesses directly on the shores of the river were flooded but the actual damage incurred was slight in comparison to what happened elsewhere. There were no strong winds here. The tall hills surrounding this area protected us and the wind only reached about 20 knots, maximum. We did receive some heavy rain. The only real problem was the record rise of the river. All the highlands of Alta Verapaz drain into Lago Izabal (via the Rio Polochic, etc.) and this causes the Rio Dulce to rise. Because of the storm surge in the Bahia Amatique, the water level of the bay was higher than the level of the river so, at times, the river current through the canyon ran backwards!

The following satellite photo sequence shows the arm of the storm that passed to the south of us and did the damage to this area and the Motagua River valley.

During the worst of it, our vital services remained functional for the most part. Electricity was interrupted several times by falling trees and for repairs but was quickly restored. Cellular phone service suffered one interruption of about an hour. Our municipal water supply remained functional and clean throughout the storm.

Most hurricanes travel much faster than Mitch did. Mitch did such a huge amount of damage because it stalled off the coast of Honduras while still packing Category 4 and 5 winds. Mitch spent several days pounding this area and dropped tremendous amounts of rain. Its path then took it inland where it slowly passed all around us while still dropping a lot of rain on Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Here in Guatemala, the rain caused many landslides all around the country. Many bridges were damaged or cut off because the approach roadways were washed out and many roads are damaged in places where the rain-soaked roadbed collapsed away.

The following graphic (again an Intellicast image) shows the complete storm track as Mitch developed from a Tropical Depression to a Tropical Storm, then a Hurricane, its passage along the coast of Honduras and then inland across Honduras and Guatemala.

After the storm, Rio Dulce was temporarily cut off from Guatemala City because a bridge along the Atlantic Highway was out. During this time, many pilots from the 55 member local flying club in La Bacadilla volunteered their skills and equipment to ferry emergency supplies and provide transportation to the city. In these operations, four flight personnel were killed and 18 others were injured. But, while the road to the city was out, the roads to Puerto Barrios and Morales remained open so there were never any serious shortages of food or fuel. The roads suffered slight damage from slides and collapses but none were serious enough to close them. After a few days, the bridges were repaired on the Atlantic Highway and traffic with Guatemala City resumed. A continuous stream of trucks quickly resupplied the whole area.

However, tens of thousands of Kek'chi Maya live in small "aldeas" surrounding the Rio Dulce area, around Lago Izabal and around El Estor. Many of these villages were cut off because of flooded or washed-out roads. Emergency truckloads of corn, rice and beans were transported to these people by various means by local volunteers, the local Catholic parish and others. Carlos at Atitlan Shuttle helped coordinate the food distribution here in Fronteras. In El Estor alone there were 3 to 4,000 people living in emergency shelters because their homes were flooded or destroyed.

The really serious damage in eastern Guatemala did not occur here but in the area 30 to 50 miles south of here in the area of the banana plantations along the Motagua River. The current information that we have indicates that thousands of banana field workers will be laid off while the soil on the plantations is prepared and bananas are replanted and the banana processing plants repaired. This process could take up to a year to complete. Information is sketchy on the number of persons displaced from their homes and how many homes were destroyed or filled with sand and mud. It would appear that repairing such houses is not an option since the houses are now positioned one to two meters below the level of the surrounding land and flooding would be a constant danger. These homes must all be rebuilt.

Specific Conditions at Various Tourist Locations

Many people are interested in the status of the tourist areas in this region after the passage of "Mitch". As we learn of these conditions after we will list them below:

Belize

General condition of the reefs, islands and sea - The reef suffered some direct damage but no serious damage. A lot of the delicate and exposed fan coral is broken but the stronger coral is fine. The waters of the reef are normally crystal clear blue but now have a greenish look. The waters are still clear but slightly greenish instead of blue in color.

All of the outer islands on the reef lost at least 20 to 30 percent of their trees and most buildings that were not built strongly are gone. On many of the islands, the beaches moved around from one side of the island to the other. The cayes which have mangroves were damaged far less than those which have none or where developers have removed the mangroves. Developers will strip off the mangroves to expose more beach for the tourists and these stripped areas were much more heavily damaged.

Boaters are noticing a lot more fish than usual. The fish and lobster populations are up. It is said the fish population is up "like in the old days". The cause for this is not clear but there are several possibilities: It could be that because fishing was suspended for several weeks, the population has recovered. It could be the increased levels of suspended nutrients in the water caused by agitation and increased runoff from the land. Perhaps some fish habitats were upset or destroyed and, therefore, more sea life is apparent.

Glovers Reef - Some of the small islands around Long Caye are gone, washed away by the storm. Two out of three restaurants on Glovers Reef are gone. Dive Resort Manta lost its restaurant and dock and one cabin was destroyed. They will rebuild. All of the resorts suffered some damage.

Long Caye (see Glovers Reef)

Placencia - The reports from Placencia are that everything is basically ok with little damage and all facilities are operating normally. Some facilities are still closed but this is normal because the main tourist season has not yet started.

Queens Caye - The Queens Cayes are changed considerably with a lot of vegetation blown off. A lot more beaches have appeared and the island has grown significantly because of the increased size of the beaches.

Ranguana Caye - The small island off the tip of Ranguana Caye is gone and a large new beach has appeared on Ranguana on the southeast side!

Tobacco Caye - Tobacco Caye was hit fairly hard and lost 4 of its restaurants. Only one restaurant is left.

Southwater Caye - The resort on Southwater Caye was not damaged too badly because it is located on the back side. Some damage from flooding occurred. The beaches on Southwater have moved around to the other side of the island.

Lime Caye - Lime Caye is now split into two because the beach has moved off to form an island of its own.

Honduras

Most everyone knows by now that Honduras was hit very hard by Hurricane Mitch. As we watched it happen from here on the Rio Dulce, we expected a lot more damage on the coast (from high winds, high seas and tides, storm surge, etc.) than seems to have actually occurred. The really serious damage occurred not from the sea but from the tremendous rainfall inland which caused flooding and which raised the levels of every river. The rivers of Honduras became roaring torrents. The locals say it was a bit like a tidal wave in reverse.

Puerto Cortez - The port is fully operational. The city's water supply was damaged but should be repaired by now. The boat haulout facility at Puerto Cortez is ok and operational. The restaurant (Delfina) located at the haulout facility was completely washed away by the flooding from the adjacent river.

Roatan - The eastern end of the island of Roatan suffered the storm damage from Mitch. The hotels and other tourist facilities were not damaged badly and they are again operating. Hotels, restaurants, diving facilities and the airport are all operating.

Utila - In short, Utila came through the storm without much damage. The tourist facilities on Utila were up and running just a few days after the passage of the storm.

Guanaja - This island which is considered by many to be the most beautiful in the area was severely damaged. No visitors are allowed on the island and no boaters may approach. The reports we have heard say that everything was destroyed, there were no survivors and not a single tree is left standing on Guanaja. These reports are not fully confirmed but it is clear that the damage was very great.

Copyright © 1998-2009 Phillip C. Landmeier