Southern Highway Land Bridge over the Sittee River in Kendall, Belize

A few days ago, I wrote about the Kendall Bridge over the Sittee River on the Southern Highway that had been washed away during the flooding in Belize caused by Tropical Storm Arthur. Today, we went to Belmopan and had the chance to try out the new temporary land bridge. I was suitably impressed with the size, and with the job that got done in just a few days. Large buses and 18 wheel crude oil laden tanker trucks are using this thing all day every day. My hats are off to the folks, both private and public, who made this happen. A few more pictures can be checked out on Flickr. Click on the title above.

Flooding in Belize

Placencia Back to Normal...

Many of you have seen news reports of significant flooding in Belize caused by Tropical Storm Arthur. Torrential rains in the mountains in western Belize and Guatemala caused eastward flowing rivers to overflow their banks and create a great deal of misfortune for coastal Belize residents.

Also, a key bridge over the Sitee River along the Southern Highway was washed away. This effectively cut the country in half for about 10 days. The flow of essential supplies was greatly impeded, since most are brought in by truck.

Although it took several days for the water to recede enough to begin getting a temporary crossing in place... the job has been done and supply and other vehicles are crossing routinely. Work will begin now on a new and better replacement bridge. Yay! Fresh fruits and veggies again! And the Placencia Lobsterfest is the weekend of June 27, 28 & 29!!

Belize Rainfall Summary

traversbelize.com: Talking About the Weather in Belize...

Talking About the Weather in Belize...

There’s no question at all that we are very much still in the “dry.” That’s the shortened term used here by the locals for the dry season. We haven’t had appreciable rain here on the Placencia Peninsula in Belize for weeks. I’m sure our Cabana guests are mostly happy about it, but dang... we need the moisture. Watering of plants and young trees is a daily chore and our dug well is barely keeping up with it... so costly piped-in water has to be used or risk losing valuable specimens. Since we do all our own landscaping (or 99% anyway), it’s one of those things we just have to keep up. I must say, Miss Karen is much better at doing this than I am. She has more patience for it, or maybe is just able to tolerate the standing in the hot sun, or the early morning or late evening half hour of “no-see-ums” and the occasional mosquito. That’s the coolest time to water, of course. We heard a rumble of thunder last night and saw some lightning off in the distance... but no joy. The Belize National Meteorological Service keeps calling for "isolated showers" in the South, but we aren’t seeing them. The temp now at 7 am is 87 F with 85% humidity and not a lick of breeze. We’ll break 90 F again today and that’s hot for us! The ceiling fans are all running overtime.