arthur visits belize

tropical storm arthur jump started this year's hurricane season, tearing through belize this past weekend. the five month atlantic hurricane season officially began on june 1st, quite punctually, as it turns out. they are anticipating six to nine more hurricanes this season.
gulp.
just when i was getting comfortable with the idea of sharing my backyard with a jaguar. now i have this to reconcile with.

"Arthur dumped approximately fifteen (15) inches of rain across Belize causing flooding in low lying areas and severely affecting the northern and southern districts. Initial damage assessment reports have indicated that a number of houses have been destroyed, damaged or submerged and approximately 16,000 persons have been affected countrywide. Five (5) deaths have been confirmed and two (2) persons are reportedly still missing."

in a country with a population less than 300,000, this is a significant number of people. several bridges were wiped out, and a major highway (one of only about four in the country) was "severed" according to news reports. the highway is now passable, and reconstruction has begun on the bridges. the prime minister declared stann creek district and parts of belize district disaster areas. however, the disaster level has been upgraded from level 1 to level 2, meaning that the situation is being managed at the national level, and international assistance is limited to technical expertise.