Hurricane Richard

We survived! The map above shows Gallon Jug in relation to a fast-moving late season hurricane that barreled across Belize (time above is minus 6 hours).

Hurricane Richard's storm force winds hit Gallon Jug about 9PM, escalated and we huddled in the bathroom -- in the center of the house, with no windows. Now I completely understand the term: "howling" wind. The house bucked and rocked, vibrated and trembled badly as the hurricane force winds struck and lasted until after midnight. Wind and water was driven through windows and under doors. It seemed that our wooden house would blow apart, but it held. We felt safe enough to leave the bathroom sometime after 1AM when the winds began to slow.

We got hammered exposed way up there on a hill, but all things considered, we were incredibly lucky. And not really much rain, despite dire predictions. A beautiful morning dawned, complete with a rainbow. Our driveway is totally blocked but we were able to climb over the downed vegetation and take a walk. No loss of life or injuries -- even the horses, cattle, deer and Ocellated Turkeys appear to have survived.

Our hill looks like it had a hair-cut and we lost a lot of trees but it could have been far far worse, we consider ourselves very lucky! We talked to other Gallon Juggernauts and fortunately, everyone is ok. We understand Chan Chich and Sylvester Village are ok too. Now it's clean up time.