Tropical Storm Sara on Ambergris Caye
We have weathered our second Tropical Storm in as many months.
TS Sara stalled out offshore and delivered a deluge of rain; at least 15" as of mid-day Saturday and it rained most of that night, as well. People who have lived here for years have said they don't recall ever getting so much rain.
The original forecast had the storm rolling through late Friday/early Saturday, but Sara decided to take her sweet-ass time getting here. I thought the worst would be over by lunch on Saturday and we could go out for food. I was wrong.
Mid-morning Saturday I decided to make a break for it and head north to my new favorite grocery store. I don't think it even has signage up, but it's the one across from Capricorn. They have a good variety of items including FROZEN BERRIES that don't cost a fortune (for smoothies), and the owner gives me a 10% "Local Discount". This is what the road looked like right outside of our neighborhood - and keep in mind, it rained for 12 more hours after this:
I grabbed items to make a few meals, stopped at a stall to get some takeout lunch, and hunkered down back at home.
Once again, massive amounts of rain conveniently coincided with the King Tide, and the lagoons flooded across the island.
NEMO (National Emergency Management Organization) ordered a curfew of 10 PM on Saturday until the "all clear" was given.
The back of our home that faces the lagoon has sliding glass doors in all three rooms; the one in our bedroom leaked quite a bit, we had towels down on the floor, and our Living Room doors leaked a little. Fortunately, the walls themselves did not, like in the last storm. Alex's crew patched the cracks before painting and it definitely helped!
Sunday morning, the rain had pretty well passed, and Nathan was stir-crazy. NEMO had a press conference at 9 but didn't give the "all clear" yet. By 11:30, we hit the road as the sun was out and we anticipated the all-clear coming shortly. There was a fair amount of people in town; the police were out too. The "all clear" was issued and businesses could open at noon, although many stayed closed for the day, cleaning up after the storm. Stores and restaurants flooded in low-lying areas.
In town we found a massive loss of sand on the shore; the waves were still pounding the coastline. If you collect conch shells, just wait for a storm to drop them on land!
Figuring a hotel with a restaurant would be the first to open, we headed to Sandbar, and my assumption was accurate! They recently reopened after a large renovation, it looks fantastic! Showers and sun were both intermittent, but we enjoyed sitting under the patio cover and watching some football. The waves breaking over the reef were still aggressive.
Fun fact: The owner of Sandbar is suing the town's mayor for corruption/abuse of power. I'm curious to watch this case unfold.
I'm so glad we added all the rock to our yard, we are able to park our cart on our bodega ramp and walk on the rocks to keep our feet dry. Because this is what our street looked like when we returned home mid-afternoon:
There are reports of crocs making their way into new areas, I'm sure all kinds of critters are on the move!
It's sunny and clear today, I am hoping the water is calm and beautiful - I have a lot of video still to shoot for my big writing project, which I'd better get to - enjoy your week!