British Honduras Research Paper

September 10, the day of the hurricane, is also a national holiday for British Honduras, on which many locals gather in the streets to celebrate the defeat of Spanish conquerors by the British in 1798.[6] It is widely believed that the hurricane struck without any warning, although some recent historians have disputed this. In his column for The Belize Times on September 5, 2004, Emory King claimed that Belizean authorities withheld continuous warnings from U.S. ships in the region of a possible hurricane strike on British Honduras so the festivities would not be interrupted.[7] King cited as evidence a letter dated September 24, 1931, from a local radio operator to the Colonial Secretary in which the warnings were discussed, adding that "perhaps none of [the authorities] had ever been in a hurricane and didn't know exactly how bad it was going to be."[8] Additionally, there was also belief among residents of Belize City that the reefs would provide a barrier against large tidal waves.[9]

Storm surge, abnormally high tides, and strong winds resulted in severe damage and many deaths in Belize City. The entire city was inundated with 5 ft (1.5 m). Numerous boats were swept far inland, including a 200 ton dredge. Properties on six streets were completely swept …show more content…
Belmopan became the capital city of British Honduras in 1970.[20][21]

Due to the weak intensity of the storm and a rural landfall location in Mexico, there were few observations of weather related to the storm in the country. In Tampico, located south of the where the storm made landfall, winds reached only 20 mph (32