HURRICANE SEASON APPROACHING ZENITH-BE PREPARED!

It’s easy to forget that September Celebrations Season is also the high point of our Atlantic hurricane season.  This year, Mother Nature seems to be fluffing up her storm clouds and booming out her thunder and rains  even as we declare Belize to be “party central”.

In just over seven days e have heard of four named storms taking place out in the Atlantic and one new one in the Pacific.  Since 2008, we have now have to pay attention to the path of storms in the Pacific as well once they are near Guatemala as we have seen two systems cross the isthmus and enter into our side of the Atlantic, with no regard for the land mass that once served as a demarcation of Tropical and Atlantic storms.

Scientifically, the tenth of September is the peak of the Hurricane season in this region. We in Belize, back in 1931, on our very own Tenth Day, were devastated by a cruel, unnamed storm that killed hundreds, including students at the then SJC boarding school where the ESSO depot is.(That is why that area is called Old College.) It is said that school children were parading that fateful afternoon when the storm blew in and many young lives were literally washed away that ill fated Tenth Day.  It raked -and-scraped along our coastal towns and changed the demographics of certain well developed areas in each town that felt the assault of the wind and waves.

What is s hurricane, you might say? Why an it be so destructive?  Are we just sitting ducks waiting for our turn to be hit and hit hard by its deadly force!  Simply put,a hurricane is a tropical weather system that thrives and grows when certain atmospheric conditions and winds develop over waters that are of 80 degree temperatures or higher.  According to the AccuWeather temperature map, the waters outside Belize are around 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Obviously the atmospheric conditions in the region are right for storm development as we have four named storms, one a Category 4 storm in the Tropical Atlantic

The warmth of the water means the storms will have more to fuel its growth and the size of the storm can result in its unleashing of a tempestuous fury that can lay waste to buildings and cause heavy rainfall which in turn results in flooding and loss of lives, livestock and crops and cause extensive damage to infrastructure. What can we do to mitigate the threat of destruction, we can begin by slowing down the  cutting of Mangroves  and putting up seawalls in the areas where all the mangroves are gone.  Our barrier reef is a God given first line of defense from hurricanes so we must protect the reef system at all costs.  With the recent oil spill in the gulf and the new explosion of a rig just twenty miles south of the BP disaster, we may need to be on the look out for underwater or dispersed oil to be brought in our direction if this hurricane season brings a Gulf storm in.

And are we just sitting ducks anyway, pawns in Nature’s games of raising manmade cities to the ground just when mankind think he has tamed her?  I think not. Cycles are the modus operandi of all things. But mankind , we believe has dominion over it all through knowledge and ability to analyze  his immediate environment all the way to the macros of the universe. We can handle the threat by wisely protecting and preparing for the annual cycle called the Hurricane Season.  And if you are still scared, then pray for the safety of the nation this season.  Evidence suggests that the energy and synergy generated by collective prayer can move mountains – or stop storms.  Ask those who were here when Mitch tried to come near us…

Be safe. Be prepared.

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