1 / 22

INTRODUCTION

SNAPSHOTS OF HURRICANE SEASON 2010 - BELIZE Impacts and Lessons Learnt 5 th Annual Caribbean Conference on CDM P. Noreen Fairweather National Emergency Coordinator. INTRODUCTION. An “active to extremely active” hurricane season was forecasted by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre.

jennis
Download Presentation

INTRODUCTION

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. SNAPSHOTS OF HURRICANE SEASON 2010 - BELIZEImpacts and Lessons Learnt5th Annual Caribbean Conference on CDMP. Noreen FairweatherNational Emergency Coordinator

  2. INTRODUCTION • An “active to extremely active” hurricane season was forecasted by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre. • 2005 -> 28 named storms, including Hur. Katrina. • 19 named storms ; 12 Hurricanes (1969 & 2005); 5 Major Hurricanes. • Four Cat 4 within 20 days (1999) • Sept 15 - two category 4 hurricanes (Igor and Julia) at the same time in the Atlantic Basin  (1900 & 1926) • NEMO Belize busy since mid-May • FOUR STORMS DIRECTLY IMPACTED BELIZE

  3. TROPICAL STORM ALEX • International News “Tropical Storm Alex Soaks Belize” • 6 -8 inches of rainfall • National News Tropical Storm Alex – Belize’s “dry run”? ‘from all accounts, Belize did well in this “dry run,” especially since the watchful eyes of NEMO and the National Meteorological Service had been monitoring the area of disturbed weather off the Honduras/ Nicaragua border that eventually became Alex since last week’.

  4. TROPICAL STORM ALEX (2) • Landfall 26 June north of Belize City; Winds 55 mph; WNW at 9mph. • Flooding in major rivers (20). • > 1500 people voluntarily moved off Ambergris Caye (San Pedro). • Impacted entire country. • Approx. $ 8m in damages.

  5. TROPICAL STORM KARL • Landfall 15 September 35 miles north of Belize ; Winds 65 mph; • A TS watch in in effect for the coast of northern Belize from Belize City to the Mexico/Belize Border . • Belize Radar showed eye developing just before landfall • No evidence it reached Hurricane strength • Flooding in northern Belize • Trees/down, temporary loss of electricity.

  6. TROPICAL STORM MATTHEW • Landfall over the southern Belize September 25; weak TS with winds of approx. 40 mph. • Localized flash floods produced by the intense rain fall. • Turbulent seas and coastal erosion. • Preliminary damage was minimal. • Quickly weakened to a TD as it moved WNW over Southern Belize and Guatemala

  7. Hurricane Richard P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  8. Impacts of Hurricane Richard • Landfall 24 October, 20 miles south Belize City; 13 mph; sustained winds 95 mph with gusts of 115mph; storm surge 5 feet. • Hurricane force winds extended 20 mls from centre, TS winds extended 105 mls. • > 2000 people voluntarily moved off San Pedro. • 4,639 persons sought public shelter; hundreds more relocated inland with family and friends. • 53 communities impacted.

  9. Impacts of Hurricane Richard • > 1,300 homes received varying levels of damage; 60% south-side Belize City. • Belmopan: 15% of homes in surrounding communities suffered level 3 & 4 damages. • Trees and power lines down, roads closed • Electricity lost 24 hours • > 3,500 families supported with relief supplies • Food/water/tarps/mattresses • Two deaths attributed to Richard. • BZ $ 70 million in damages

  10. P. Noreen, NEC - BELIZE

  11. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  12. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  13. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  14. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  15. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  16. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  17. P. Noreen Fairweather, NEC - BELIZE

  18. Preparation Pays Off (Lessons Learnt) • Disaster Management Training ( >500 persons) . • First Aid - 650 persons June –Nov. 2010 • Field and Tabletop Exercises . • Shelter Inspection and Rehabilitation . • Pre-positioning of Relief Supplies and Equipment. • Continuous Disaster Plan development/improvement: • Evacuation Plan (Coast and Cayes) in addition to government assets, established relationship with private sector – fuel, boats, buses , heavy equipment etc. • Shelter Management: • Pre-determined -> who will go where, when, how. • (Internal and External)

  19. Education/Information Pays Off (Lessons Learnt) • Continuous sharing of information and warning to public before/during/after event. • Joint hurricane tips – NEMO & MET during daily weather updates. • Joint alert messages – NEMO & Media • Building confidence: • Carefully crafting Alert Messages; inform on threat without seeming to “cry wolf”.

  20. Monitor and track ALL SYSTEMS in both Atlantic & Pacific.

  21. Lessons Learnt (Improvement Needed) • Better building practices/codes • Other Mitigation efforts • Land Utilization/Zoning/ Hazard Mapping, drainage • Probabilistic Risk Assessment. • Agriculture / Livelihood • Crop diversity and rotation, livestock safe areas, flood resilient pasture

  22. Thank You.

More Related