Hurricane Iris swept into southern Belize in the early hours of October 9. And winds of up to 220km/h are reported to have wiped out banana plantations in the Monkey River and Stann Creek districts of the Central American country.
The Belize government has declared the situation a national disaster. And, in its preliminary report, the National Emergency Management Organisation reported that the banana industry has been destroyed, the citrus crop damaged and tourism infrastructure obliterated.
Luis Salazar at the Belize High Commission said on October 10 that official fatality figures were 20, although the number is likely to increase.
'The number of [people left] homeless is approximately 8,000, which is a significant proportion of the region's 30,000 population. Whole coastal villages have been wiped out. It's all terribly sad.' Thousands of boxes of bananas ready for shipment were also lost when the hurricane struck the island.
The devastation caused by the hurricane could have a crippling effect on Belize's economy, which relies heavily on banana, citrus and sugar exports.
Irish multinational Fyffes markets most of Belize's banana crop.
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