Hurricane Richard is expected to cross the entire country of Belize from east to west, arriving sometime Sunday night/Monday morning, 10/24-25, before heading into southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. It is predicted to hit us as a category 1 storm with winds of 85mph. I’ve already decided to move my trailer back up onto the cemetery road early Sunday morning and have arranged the move with Landy, who moved me prior to TS Matthew. I’ll be in the same spot, some 4 feet higher than I sit at Kismet so that’s about 6 feet above sea level. I began my preparations around 1pm on Saturday to be ready for my move. Here’s a synopsis of my preparations for the storm and of the storm as it traveled past:
Saturday 10/23: The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has warned everyone living on the Cayes and in low lying areas (naming Hopkins) to begin preparations to move to the designated shelters on Sunday. At 10:30am, after our guests left I went to Thong’s Café for an ice coffee and the internet to check on the storm and the predictions for wind and rainfall that we can expect. They say we could get 15+ inches of rain so I made up my mind to move to higher ground. I met with Landy, who works at the Hopkins Bay Resort in the maintenance shop, to set a time for him to pull me up to the cemetery road. We decided on 7:30am. He needs to do it early because they will leave work at noon. Next I went to the store for a new 5 gallon bottle of Crystal water for drinking purposes. I keep it and it’s dispenser on the back center right side of my tab (easy to fill my drink bottles and it distributes the 40 pound weight over the table leg. Then I went and bought 4 gallons of gas for my generator. I already have a full tank (3 gallons good for 3-4 days) because I want to be sure that I have enough. The gas was US$5.75 a gallon. Back at Kismet I added air to my trailer tires, put the generator on my back travel deck, disconnected everything but my electric, and stored some my outdoor use things in the tool room so they don’t get water logged or float away. Inside I started lowering and weight distributing a couple of items. I was done by 4pm. I have to save my TV and VCR move (above my bed) for tomorrow because I leave that on the bed for travel. The rest of the day/night I gave to my normal activities of reading and watching “The Wire”. I started season 1 episode 1 last night (Friday) and will work my way through the end of season 5.
Sunday 10/24: The radio is telling us that Richard will come ashore right over Silkgrass/ Hopkins/Sittee River later tonight but that we will begin feeling the effects by 9am this morning. At 7:30am we could see the leading edge moving closer. At 8:30 the rain began but with light winds. Hopefully the extra 4 feet higher I will be will be enough to keep me above any flooding. Landy finally came for me at 11:15am and I was totally ready having moved my TV to the bed, filled my fresh water tank, disconnected the electric, and raised the 4 leveling jacks. He was late because his company sent him over to the new home construction site to board windows there. He normally isn’t involved in that but with the storm coming faster than originally anticipated they pulled him in. All we had left to do was raise the front of my trailer to receive the hitch ball on the back of his truck. The move went very easily and I’m perched on the far right hand side of the highest point of the road. Now it’s just a waiting game. The storm prediction now is for a category 2 and winds of 100mph, arriving between 5 and 6pm. With the increase in predicted wind I decided to move myself to the shelter at Holy Family catholic School on the south end. I packed up a few necessaries, plus my external hard drive with all my movies and settled in at the shelter around 2pm, well in advance of the storm. I thought that maybe, while the power was still on, I could keep the kids entertained by showing Disney movies. I started with “The Princess and the Frog” (2010) and had the kids sitting on the floor watching it. At 5pm things started happening almost as if on a switch. The wind rose to near 50mpm and a torrential downpour started. At 5:10pm we lost power and put an end to any more movies. By 6 the wind was blowing fiercely at somewhere around 80mph. The storm is now predicted to cross into Belize closer to Gales Point (15 miles north of Dangriga and 24 miles north of Hopkins), which is a blessing for us because the heaviest winds only extend out 15 miles, so we shouldn’t see the 100+ speeds. By 9pm things were looking much better, with the wind and rain both having slacked off. The wind was down to 40-45mph and the rain was moderate. The 2 NEMO people at the shelter made a driving inspection of the village to see what damaged had been caused around 9pm and made a special visit to my home for me and reported that it was ok. By 10pm it was calm enough for me to head home. I didn’t see any downed trees or home damage. My trailer was just the way I left it. We are without cell and land line phone service too. Thank God we were spared!
Monday 10/25: We still don’t have electricity in the village. Peter came by at 7am. He has some minor roof damage and lost 2 trees. He said he didn’t see anything but some thatch roof damage on his ride down to Kismet. Kismet had small puddles in Tricia’s apartment and 1 bedroom of the upper guest room because their windows couldn’t be completely closed. There was absolutely no flooding on the property and no surf damage to the beach. The power is still out a 9am and I’ve powered up my generator so I can continue this. I’ll go see Landy after I have my breakfast and schedule my move back home. Fishing in the lagoon later on today!
Tuesday 10/26: The electricity came back on in the village around noon and cell service by 2pm. Plus it’s moving day. Landy moved me back to Kismet around 5:30pm but I’m not completely set up yet. While cranking my hitch off of the back of Landy’s truck something in the handle snapped and we weren’t able to raise my trailer off the ball. After trying unsuccessfully to fix it I decided that we’d have to use my floor jack to get me unhitched. I leveled it out as best I could. Trouble with that is that, even after deploying the leveling jacks, I can’t get the jack out and I’m 2” high in the front. That doesn’t seem like an awful lot but you definitely notice it when you are walking back and forth in my trailer. I turned out the problem is that the jack handle has a gear mounted on it that had 2 tiny posts that kept the gear locked in place. When you crank the handle that gear turns another that cranks the jackpost up and down. They both sheared off so that the gear just sat there. So now I have to wait until I find someone with a portable welding machine weld that gear on so I can level my trailer. I’ll also have to find someone with 2 jacks so I can jack up the front of my trailer so I can remove the floor jack so I can use the trailer leveler again. I also have to take a trip into Dangriga on Wednesday so I can buy a covered outdoor electrical outlet to plug my electric into. During the storm something hit the one that was there and shattered it. I plugged my trailer power cord inside one of the rooms until I can fix that. But…I’m back home again at Kismet.
Normal Stuff: Peter may have prevented a possible fire last night (Tuesday 10/26) when he asked me to come take a look at a circuit breaker that kept popping in the tool room. The tool room lights, electrical outlets and the water pump are all on that circuit. He pointed out where he had seen sparks near the water pump and then reset the breaker. As soon as he did sparks started jumping in a 4ft piece of the wire and then started to burn. I had him shut the breaker again and the flame went out in a few seconds. Had he left it on, and the pump kicked on, the place may have burned down and taken my trailer with it since I’m parked so close, 6 feet from a thatched overhang. So tomorrow I’ll replace that piece of wire and check the run that feeds it for more breaks. The wiring in the entire building is a nightmare and if this was the U.S. and an inspector does his thing he/she would immediately condemn the place as unsafe. The plumbing isn’t much better…
I got a delicious gift on Saturday the 23rd. I had just finished dinner and was watching episode 3 of “The Wire” when I hear one of Peter’s daughters call my name. Going to the door I found her standing there with a platter containing 6 Caribbean sweet rolls that Myra had just made. I told her to tell Myra thank you and I love her! I had one while it was hot and have bagged the rest for eating with orange marmalade…my very favorite! I used another for my hamburger dinner on Sunday before heading for the shelter and 1 for my chicken salad sandwich at the shelter. Absolutely delicious!
I found out that I have an unexpected house guest. It’s either a lizard or a mouse. I think it’s a mouse though as I found some droppings in my bathroom that look like they came from a rodent. I was sitting on my couch watching an episode of “The Wire” and happened to look back in the direction of my bedroom. I saw something dart out from under my linen closet door and run into the bathroom. I guess I’ll have to add a mouse trap to my shopping list and take a trip under my trailer to see where it got in and close the hole so I don’t have any more unwanted quests. It’s my 1st but Tricia seems to have a few of them. They may have been driven in by the storm.
I’m going to have trailer company sometime in November. Zeppi’s brother-in-law Louie is dragging a trailer down to South America (Uruguay I think) and will park at Kismet for a month before heading out. You remember my fishing buddy Zeppi who stayed at kismet in April. He lives in north Jersey. I’m not sure where Louie will park it. We’ll have to machete out a spot for him I guess.
And life goes safely on for the Fatboy in Belize… As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
