The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) of Belize held a meeting on Friday November 26th at 2:00 p.m. to formally ending the hurricane season. Certificates of admiration and awards were issued to outstanding chair persons and members of the Emergency Operating Committee that supported NEMO throughout the hurricane season.
Below are some awful photos of the death in Belize City caused by Hurricane Hattie 49 years ago.
Hurricane Hattie strikes Belize on October 31, 1961, killing more than 400 people and leaving thousands homeless. Almost half of Belize City was razed by the storm.
The rage that would become Hattie had formed two weeks before in the Atlantic Sea and so moved slowly west toward Central America. When it reached the seacoast of Belize, known at the time as British Honduras, it was a Class 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 miles per minute and gusts reaching 180 mph. It was the strongest storm to hit Belize to date. With accurate weather predictions still in their infancy, an attempted evacuation was but partly successful.
The barrier islands of Turneffe and Caye Caulker were entirely submerged by the storm surge. Hattie then brought a 12-foot surge to the mainland, flattening all buildings about the shore. Stann Creek, a little fishing hamlet on the seacoast near Belize City, was entirely destroyed. Following the hurricane, a settlement was reinforced on the outskirts of Belize City and named Hattieville.
LOOKING BACK TO 1961
Hattie victims line up at Department of Lodging and Planning: Office ofCentral Authority, and Section of Data and Communications.
Old Market in Downtown Belize City
The construction in the substance was the Imperial Bank of Canada, today theBelize Bank. At the bottom left of the picture you can see the Supreme Courtbuilding with its signature architecture.
The great building on the good with the house was Belize Estate and Develop Limited.
Not certain where this construction was or is in Belize City. Someone hassuggested it may be the Peace Corp building. but I actually can't say.Any clues anyone?
Not certain where this one is.
The panoramic scene at the Old Swing Bridge, a crossing still in action...
This building, says CBA engineers Philip Waight and Paul Satchwell, felldown off its posts and ended up partly in the street. Waight's familyhome also drop off its posts, he said on The Adele Ramos Show onNovember 2.
This picture is smack downtown in Belize City. The construction to the rightis Hofius Hardware - to the remaining is the present-day First CaribbeanInternational Bank on Albert Street.
These men were discussing disaster relief efforts 3 years after Hattie.
On the Barracks. how our ladies did it backwards in the day and they looked uncomplaining!
Relief via helicopter airlifted to the Memorial Park in Belize City.
All photos courtesy of Adele Ramos: "The Adele Ramos Show" Belize City
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