BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 21, 2025
Today, the Belize City Council embarked on a CEMO (Central Emergency Management Organization) Flood Mitigation Clean-up Campaign.
Belize City Council Team
The campaign was organized as a preventative step, employing mitigation measures in preparation for possible impacts of storms during the approaching hurricane season, and is being led by the CEMO Unit in collaboration with the Sanitation & Works Department.
According to CEMO Liaison Officer, Melony Dawson, their approach today was to get all hands on the ground as part of an intense group effort, which included participation by staff of the City Council, to deliver a better cleaning.
And with the hurricane season (which starts on June 1) drawing close, and flooding being one of the major events affecting the city residents, the Council chose this initiative.
The initiative, said Dawson, is focused on six vulnerable areas in the city that are prone to flooding. These are: Queen Street, King Street, the Pound Yard area, Dean Street, Freetown Road, and Berkeley Street, all located in Belize City.
The Belize City Council, in addition to having its staff involved in the cleaning, deployed their slug trucks, two of which were visible on the grounds.
Resources were in full swing to assist the working team, Dawson added.
Dawson said that it is all in an effort to build a more resilient city.
And, as emphasized by Dawson, today is not a one-day initiative, as the city residents can expect to see workers on the ground day and night throughout the hurricane season.
AMANDALA spoke with some of the team members, who were moving very swiftly within some of the flood prone areas like the Pound Yard Bridge area, King Street and Freetown Road.
The Pound Yard Bridge area is a very busy area with heavy traffic consisting of taxis, city buses on their daily runs, and the $2.00 vans which pass through the area regularly, but that didn’t stop the team from being in full work mode. As the city daily routine continued, so did the Council’s cleaning campaign.
Mayor Bernard Wagner addressed the media today on those hot spots where illegal dumpers often throw garbage immediately after the cleaning has occurred. He noted that enforcement of the law will be a priority.
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