In a October 14, 2026 incident that has left local communities questioning environmental and public health safety, street flooding in San Pedro’s popular Embarcadero neighborhood is being attributed to extreme high tides by Belize Water Services (BWS), rather than infrastructure failure or raw sewage discharge. The murky, foul-smelling floodwater that pooled onto local streets sparked immediate alarm among residents, nearby business owners, and artisanal fishermen who rely on the adjacent lagoon for their livelihoods. Many have raised urgent concerns over whether the floodwater carries contaminants that could harm human health or damage the fragile coastal marine ecosystem.
According to Eric Rhaburn, BWS’s Water and Wastewater Operations Manager overseeing Ambergris Caye and the western region of Belize, the event was a purely hydrological incident driven by uncommonly high tidal levels. “We had a high tide. The manhole that’s connected near Station Three on Nurse Shark Street was submerged so we had a hydraulic overload. It had nothing to do with the pump station. It was simply a high tide,” Rhaburn explained in an on-record interview for local broadcast. To confirm BWS’s initial assessment, representatives from Belize’s Department of the Environment (DOE) visited the flood site Saturday morning. Rhaburn noted that DOE inspectors did not detect any sewage solids or the distinct foul odor linked to raw sewage discharge, backing the claim that no sewage system failure occurred. By the time tidal levels receded, the flooding stopped entirely, and the site is no longer experiencing overflow as of the report date.
When pressed on whether formal contamination testing of the lagoon was completed, Rhaburn confirmed that DOE did not run formal laboratory tests, only visual and olfactory inspections for telltale signs of sewage leakage. As a proactive precaution, BWS already disinfected the entire affected area to eliminate any potential pathogens that could have been present, regardless of the source of the floodwater. Rhaburn maintained that the area remains completely safe for all uses, including fishermen unloading their daily catches at the Embarcadero landing. “The area is safe. It was hydraulic overloading. It was simple saltwater coming through our manholes,” he stated.
Over the weekend, BWS deployed septic trucks to pump out excess water from submerged manholes, and response teams remain on standby to address any recurrence of flooding while preparations for a long-term solution move forward. BWS has confirmed that plans are in place to raise the elevation of the problematic manhole to prevent future hydraulic overloading during periods of extreme high tide, a structural adjustment that will eliminate the risk of repeat street flooding.
This report is a transcribed excerpt from a local evening television news broadcast, with original Kriol language statements adapted to standard English spelling for clarity in online publication.