Hurricane Lisa makes landfall in Belize and threatens an alert Central America

The hurricane Lisa made landfall this Wednesday on the coast of Belize with sustained winds of 140 km / h, while the rest of the countries in northern Central America and states in the Mexican southeast remain on alert due to the cyclone’s rains.

The United States National Hurricane Center (CNH) noted that Lisa entered the mainland on Wednesday afternoon, near the mouth of the Sibun River, about 15 km south of Belize City.

The hurricane is moving at 19 km/h heading west with maximum sustained winds of 140 km/h, corresponding to a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 5, but it will weaken as it penetrates Belize and Guatemala.

Red alert in Belize

The government of Belice declared a red alert for the entire coast while announcing the closure of schools and the opening of several shelters.

In Belize City, the country’s former capital on the north coast, the rain and wind had increased, while the historic center exhibited flooded streets before Lisa’s arrival, AFP found.

“The phenomenon is very dangerous for us” because in Belize everything “floods quickly with a little rain” and already “a hurricane, winds and so on with a lot of rain, that is the fear of many people,” said Jasmin Ayuso, a secretary 21 years old, to AFP.

Most businesses were also closed due to the hurricane.

Little rain in Honduras

The State Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismic Studies (Cenaos) of Honduras raised the alert level to “red” for the Bay Islands and to “yellow alert” for Gracias a Dios, Colón, Atlántida and Cortés, in the north of the country.

Ronnie McNab, mayor of Roatán, the departmental capital of Islas de la Bahía, reversed a declaration of a state of emergency.

“The Municipal State of Emergency is suspended, the population can return to their usual activities,” he said in a message on the mayor’s Facebook page, adding that “measures in aquatic activities are maintained.”

McNab also ordered the closure of all businesses starting this Wednesday and only left pharmacies and gas stations open.

For his part, the civil protection commissioner of Roatán, Andy López, said that the island was hit by rains and gusts of light winds and the sea was rough but without reaching high waves.

Floods in Guatemala

In Guatemala, President Alejandro Giammattei declared at a press conference that food and aid personnel had been mobilized to areas that could be affected by heavy rains due to Lisa, which is expected to cross the northern department of Petén, bordering Belize. and Mexico.

So far, the authorities report the flooding of the urban area and a road in the municipality of Melchor de Mencos, on the border with Belize, which led to the evacuation of almost a hundred people.

Guatemala It also suspended classes in towns in the north of the country. Lisa is expected to enter Guatemalan territory through Petén as a storm on Thursday and later downgrade to a tropical depression in Mexico.

The Salvador It also maintains surveillance in some 24 municipalities in different areas of the country where there are places with high vulnerability to floods or landslides that are under a red alert.

Lisa affects the Central America almost three weeks after Julia, which hit Nicaragua as a hurricane, left fifty dead in the region, almost half of them drowned in Honduras and the rest buried by landslides in Guatemala and El Salvador, in addition to millionaire losses.

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