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Tropical Storm Franklin Intensifies Over Night: Warning Issued in Northern Belize

Aug 7, 2017|Ambergris Caye

Noon Belize Time:

It was just over a year ago when Category One Hurricane Earl made landfall in Belize with 85 mile per hour winds. He made landfall south of San Pedro (about 30 miles south) near Belize City and caused fairly extensive property damage. Many of the docks were down on Ambergris Caye and rivers and low lying neighborhoods flooded. (You can see many pictures of the damage here.)

That was August 4, 2016…fast forward to today. August 7, 2017 and we are watching another storm move in our direction. This wasn’t supposed to happen! I’ve been here 10 years and Earl was my first view of real damage from a storm.

But here he is – Tropical Storm Franklin. Upgraded late yesterday afternoon, he intensified again over night and is NOW projected to hit just north of Mahahual, Mexico (about 75-85 miles north of us).

And now, according to NEMO (the National Emergency Management Organization of Belize) we are under Tropical Storm Watch.

And alcohol sales have been banned!
Also note that if you live on Ambergris Caye, SAGA is looking for temporary shelter for the dogs housed at Fort Dog – there are 20 dogs that need housing for 1 to 2 days.
Many business are closing at mid-day Monday – the gas station in town at 4pm and south of town 7pm.

Graphic from the National Hurricane Center (all links are set up to go to TS Franklin)

It’s currently cruising over the coast of Honduras – just north of the Bay Islands (Roatan, Utila and Guanaja). You can see them just south of the yellow area. I checked in with my friend Kendall down there in Roatan and he’s reporting relatively calm rain free weather so far this morning.

View in Roatan.

Let’s hope it stays that way.

Satellite Image from Wunderground

So far, on North Ambergris Caye, we have been getting heavy bands of rain and lightning. The resort next to us is packing up all the beach furniture and anything loose that is around. Many are moving their boats to the lagoon side of the island – to stay away from potential surge and high winds. One resort, that I know of, is moving guests to the units in the back of the property – away from those units close to the ocean.

Track from Navy site