By Colin Hyde
Whew, that major fumble of the ball by the September Celebrations Committee, cancelling the party on the 21st in Belize City because they were so sure that it would be a day of “deluge” accompanied by thunder and lightning; well, I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t squirm thinking that the mayor, my nephew-in-law (Mayor Bernard), might be the architect of the gaffe, and if not he, then my grandnephew-in-law, his deputy (Deputy Mayor Eluide), was the culprit. I can exhale now: the report I have says they’re innocent of any such charge, if there was one. That “worries” out of the way, I can zero in on expressing my pain for the Belizeans, especially the MSMEs, who invested so much in getting ready for the day. I hope the government has a little surplus to throw their way, for the error.
I don’t plan my day around parades, and I am not going to try to feel anything for children, youth, and adults who, from the evening before, put creases in their uniforms for the big day, only to be terribly disappointed. I say, they could always go and watch teevee. They didn’t lose any money.
The first whining I heard about the canceling of the party was from some, ehm, PUP rabble rousers who were blaming UDPees in the Weather Department. That’s the PUP at work, fu yu. Some people have no chaynj fu chaynj. Own up to unu responsibility, man! The Weather Bureau can only advise; the political leaders—that’s where the buck always stops. The science people say climate change is at the root of weather evils in the world, and so we must go green. The politician Trump and his colegas say hogwash, drill baby drill. We know how the world works. It’s the politician dem that run things.
No explanation being forwarded about the decision, and no chance of the PUP taking responsibility for the howler, let’s talk about what we “know” might have guided the overabundance of caution.
No hurricane was on the horizon coming on to the big day, but we’ve been having some real bad weather lately. Electrical storms seem to be getting worse in Belize. I haven’t seen anything in the mainstream news, but a reliable source told me that just in the last two weeks there was one person killed by lightning in the Cayo District, and another report said that some cattle were struck down in the Toledo District. These storms seem to be getting more dangerous.
Talking hurricanes, September 10, 1931, was the date of the worst natural disaster in our country’s history. We almost lost George Price in the hurricane on that date. This world, where would we be if George had decided to weather the storm with his friends at Port Loyola? An AI Overview says, “On September 10, 1931, a total of 33 people died at St. John’s College during the devastating hurricane. Of the 33 fatalities, 11 were Jesuits (6 priests, 4 scholastics, and 1 brother), and the remaining 22 were students and servants.”
Ah, an old story here: my mom was a child living in Sittee River then. She said they were all at a regatta when the river started getting rough. She said some oldsters remarked that they had never seen such large waves in the river before, nor had they seen so many dories capsize at the races.
The story is that a governor had data, but the people around him were poor advisors. A short story by Oscar Webber about that hurricane can be found at the web page latinamericandiaries.blogs. It’s titled, “Belize and the hurricane of 1931 – An avertable tragedy”, and it’s published by CLACS – Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Borrowing a few lines here, Webber says, about the hurricane that killed at least 2,500 of the 15,000 population of the colony’s capital, Belize City (it would have been Belize Town then, I think), “a former president of the Belize Historical Society, Emory King, [said] that the British Government knew about the hurricane in advance and chose to ignore warnings regarding its imminent arrival.” Webber said, “It is clear, King was, to a degree right; there was advance warning of the hurricane, but it was not entirely ignored.” Me talking here: I say those Americans are always trying to make the British look bad.
Continuing with the story, “On the 8th, Fairweather [Donald Fairweather, the government’s radio operator] received notification that a hurricane would strike the colony’s southern towns and he immediately relayed that information via the telephone exchange …The following day the harbor-master was informed, and printed warnings were posted at Bridge Foot in the centre of Belize City. Later that day, he [Fairweather] received updated information that the hurricane was actually heading directly for Belize City [and disseminated that information].
“… the colonial government did not entirely err on the side of caution. The celebrations planned for the 10th were not cancelled but altered … Governor John Burdon admitted publicly that he knew of the hurricane in advance and discussed it with other members of the government … Burdon placed the blame squarely on ordinary Belizeans. He argued that the populace rejected the idea that Belize could be hit by a hurricane …”
Webber said “there was almost no generational memory of hurricanes in Belize; as of 1931, it had been at least a century since one had hit the colony. Survivors in 1931 recounted that many people who did receive the warning laughed it off.”
More pertinent to the overabundance of caution this year might be a storm I suspect some of you might not remember. I’m talking about Tropical Storm Arthur of 2008! You can bet the folk at the Weather Department don’t forget that beast. It is my belief that the meteorologist tagged to be the new boss at airport got his career derailed by Arthur, the freakiest storm anyone in Belize ever heard of.
Tropical Storm Arthur actually began as Tropical Storm Alma, a lady who formed in the Pacific. The Wikipedia says Alma formed on May 29 off the west coast of Costa Rica and “degenerated into a remnant low on May 30, before merging with another approaching tropical wave in the Gulf of Honduras shortly afterward, which became Tropical Storm Arthur.” The website reliefweb said, “Tropical Storm Arthur—the first storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, formed on Saturday afternoon 31 May 2008—immediately made landfall in Belize, dumping approximately 15 inches of rainfall over the country, and cutting off the southern districts of Stann Creek and Toledo completely.”
That’s some phenomenon there. Alma dissipated over Central America, drifted over Guatemala into the Caribbean Sea in front of the Toledo District, linked up with a wave and became Arthur; and instead of hanging out at sea awhile to give our people here a chance to figure him (with her) out, it turned and dove almost immediately into the Stann Creek District, and wrought havoc upon our country. There were five confirmed deaths because of TR Arthur. The flooding in the Stann Creek District was devastating. Friends in Gales Point told me that in spots the water was waist high! I don’t think there was a house in Hope Creek that escaped damage. The Amandala said NEMO estimated the damage at close to $80 million.
Hmm, if the PUP wants to “blame game” the decision to pull the plug on the parade on our meteorologists, the flak could never compare to what they got in 2008 because of that freak Arthur. Hmm, what’s a little cuss up when everybody safe? Feelings aside, there is the matter of time and material investments. Fortunately, the government, ehm, apparently got money. Everyone who lost their investment shud put in a bill, maybe with a percentage charge for gains they expected for the 21st too – we absolutely must encourage small entrepreneurs. Yes, I said the government behaves like money is, ehm, burgeoning in the national vault. They shud pay.
Chris Coye leaves gov’t after failing to deliver Magical
Chris Coye, the resigning selected minister in the Finance department, his abandoning of the shop—no one ever tells us anything, so we have to speculate. Don’t worry about him not telling us thanks for the opportunity to serve us. Gratitude does not reside in that big wigs crowd. It could be that there’s just too much money in “lawyer world”, he can no longer resist the feeding frenzy. Somebody has to be blamed for the fat (I heard someone call it obscene) raise of pay for the Cab Sec and CEOs, which severely weakened the government’s negotiating position with its employees. Don’t put anything on the hard line he took in the negotiations with government’s employees, like he was working for an Esquivel UDP government. No one “seriously” kech feelings during cold money talks.
My spotlight is on the abject failure to deliver Port Magical. When that failed, when Magical lost out to the derelict port in Belize City, well, mission unaccomplished, time to skiddoo, before they fire you. Hn, you still think he should say thank you to Belize for the opportunity to serve us?
Magical, the best solution to the port problem in Belize, is dead; well, at least for now. I wouldn’t let go if I were you, David Gegg. As the UDP used to sing, truth crushed to earth will rise, meaning a good thing cannot be held down forever. The derelict port hasn’t even passed the environmental test yet.
Returning to the subject of this piece, the very disappointing Mr. Chris Coye, he was brought in to put the stamp “delivered” on the definitive agreement, and let us down. He is like the striker who missed the open goal and looked down on his boots. Magical was a slam dunk, an easy sell. And he fumbled it away. Bah. Save the tears for us. He, Chris, he’s getting back to where our lawyers feed.
