But we were on the alert, as was the entire country of Belize. Hurricane watchers, studying their computer models predicted that Mitch was headed right for us and would be landing in our face sometime the next day. By now shelters were being identified in town, but advisories cautioned against staying on the coast. While we put soy center appliances up on blocks, we were well aware that if this hurricane hit us with category 5 winds and sea surge, our office and soy center would end up somewhere out beyond the cayes with the barracuda and conch. As I drove through town that afternoon, I thought there might not be much left of Punta Gorda in a couple days.
Most houses are low and made of wood.
Most people were not planning to go anywhere. They would wait it out. Poor people are more fatalistic about death than people of means. I remember when we had a Plenty office in Washington, DC and Three Mile Island was having meltdown of unknown proportions. We were close enough to Harrisburg that we were aware that if she blew, we would be in radiation soup.