Hurricane Hattie

Hattie was a category 5 hurricane when it hit Belize City on October 31st 1961. I had been born at Holden Memorial Hospital in this city on the 27th of September of that year. So when Hattie hit I was not yet five weeks old. I have been looking at the path this hurricane took and it looks really strange. it went north then headed South-West, struck Belize City, crossed Guatemala, I imagine as a depression, came out in the Pacific where it was named Simone then it crossed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and came out in the Gulf of Mexico, now named Inga.

But anyway, as far as I can tell we used to live near the beach in Belize city, I have no idea why my father did not move us inland, I imagine that downward trend caught everyone by surprise. By the time it was known the hurricane would strike Belize City I guess there was just no time to move and everyone had to do what they could to try to protect themselves and their families. In my case, my Mother figured the safest place for me was in a drawer. so that is where I spent my first hurricane, in a piece of furniture.

The aftermath was horrible, my Mother told me that my Dad went out the next morning to help in the rescue and cleaning efforts and there were dead bodies all over the streets. The official death toll was over 300, but other sources say it was closer to one thousand. So I actually practically started my life with a horrible catastrophe. This hurricane was so bad it caused the Belizean authorities to move the capital inland to Belmopan, away from the hurricanes. Belize City continues to be the most important and biggest town in Belize.