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Summary:
Hurricane Eta has devastated large parts of Honduras’s most populated regions. Even before making landfall in Nicaragua on November 3, 2020, rivers around the country began spilling over forcing thousands of people to flee their homes to escape the catastrophic flooding.
Host Karen Spring shares an interview with one man about his experiences rescuing people by boat the days during and after the peak of the disaster. It’s now over a week later and some Hondurans are still on their rooftops waiting to be rescued. So much of the rescuing and disaster relief is being done by Honduras. With the government largely absent, Hondurans are emphasizing that “only the people, save the people”
Transcript:
So today is Wednesday, November 4. And we just heard that the Choluteca River which divides the two cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela, which to many ears is just the capital city of Honduras, spilled over and is flooding into the markets and the areas around the center of the city. So Edwin, my partner and I, are going to go over there now. We’re just leaving our place. And we’re going to go over there now and look at it.
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So it’s pretty late at night here. It’s about, after nine o’clock, so we’re going out pretty late, even though there’s a national emergency was called by the government around two o’clock in the afternoon. And there is basically a state of siege declared that was already in place because of the coronavirus pandemic, since March, actually. So we’re going to go out and see sort of what’s happening between here and other places along the way, potentially all the way to the Choluteca River just to see what the damage of the hurricane has been so far.
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So we just got to the area where the river is like really swelling, swelled, basically, and it’s coming right up onto the bridge and onto the main highway. That’s the market over there, right? It’s flooding into the markets on the other side of the river. Edwin, you should probably put your mask on. We got to put our masks on because we’re in a pandemic too. So we’ve come across people that are here that come in from other parts of the country to sell seafood and they go to the market that’s called “The Island” down there to sell their seafood. So they’re just waiting up in higher ground to see what’s going to happen with the river.
Honduran Speaker:
Well, we’re here, away from our selling booths, because we sell fresh seafood. Down there, there is a market exclusively for seafood. In the morning it was dry because it hadn’t rained much. But we think the authorities played dirty because they went and opened the floodgates of La Concepción Dam and that caused the flooding.
Look, I even called 911. They answered, “Yes, who’s speaking?” And I started explaining that the river levels all of a sudden started rising quickly. At this time, we knew that the storm had hit the western part of the country and the north, and it had caused flooding. But here in Tegucigalpa, not enough rain had fallen to make the river spill over.
But then we realized that the government had opened the floodgates of the dam, and they didn’t tell anyone. No, no, COPECO could have come to the market, which is close to the river to let us know. They should have told us to leave because they were going to let the water go from the dam, and tell us to get our products out, and we would have prepared. We would have gotten our products out of there.
Listen, support from the government? We don’t have any here. They just commit to robbing public money. The absolute truth is, we have a bunch of thieves in the government, not authorities. Money comes into Honduras, support from countries like Canada, the United States, the European countries, different quantities of money. But those scumbags that govern this country steal it all.
Karen Spring:
On Monday, November 2, Hondurans started bracing for a Category 4 hurricane. Hurricane Eta was supposed to make landfall in Nicaragua on November 3, but it was already pouring rain and with strong winds in many parts of the country. The day that Eta made landfall in Nicaragua, the Honduran government was still encouraging people to go on vacation. The country was supposed to be celebrating Morazán Week, which is an extra long holiday weekend starting on Wednesday, November 4. Hondurans with money, or that were wealthy, normally would use this week to head to the beaches with their families.
The Honduran government was extra focused on Morazán Week this year because of the severe economic losses in the tourist industry that were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To encourage people to travel, the government even lifted all COVID-19 restrictions. And despite the serious warnings of a Category 4 hurricane, the Honduran government continued to encourage people to go and enjoy their holidays. They weren’t calling for evacuations, and they weren’t doing any sort of prevention work to prevent dangerous flooding. Instead, the government continued their focus on Morazán week.
Then the hurricane made landfall in neighboring Nicaragua. The following day, on Wednesday, November 4, the levels of several rivers around Honduras were rising, and they were rising very quickly. A huge bridge collapsed and was overtaken by a river in La Ceiba, destroying a major entry point to the third largest city in the country. Hondurans started fearing the worst. Many feared a repeat of Hurricane Mitch that hit Honduras over 20 years ago in 1998. Mitch destroyed Honduras and left approximately 11,000 Hondurans dead. The next few days would turn out to be disastrous for the country.
By the evening on Wednesday, November 4, everyone in the country was focused on the levels of the rivers. This was the night that the Choluteca River spilled over into the marketplace and into the center area of Tegucigalpa. The impacts of the flooding were just starting to be seen. There was lots of uncertainty and fear. And we weren’t really sure at this point what was going to happen.
In the Sula Valley area in northern Honduras, water was beginning to flood several neighborhoods and buildings. The government still did not announce any sort of evacuations.
What unfolded throughout Wednesday night and several days following can only be characterized as a catastrophe for the country. For days, a disastrous chaos unfolded.
And like in so many cases when the government does not care and does not respond, the people, or “el pueblo,” do. And this was definitely the case during Hurricane Eta.
José Milton Figueroa is a mechanic. He’s lived in a neighborhood called the Celeo González, just north of the San Pedro Sula airport. José, like so many Hondurans, joined efforts to save their families, their neighbors, their community members, and total strangers. From Wednesday evening, when the flooding became unbearable, to Friday and into the weekend, José Milton Figueroa helped rescue over 150 people. His story is just one of many about Hondurans saving Hondurans.
José Milton Figueroa (interpreted in English):
My name is José Milton Figueroa. I’m a mechanic for the Honduran Brewery. I’ve been working at the brewery for 22 years. I’m one of the people affected by the hurricane. I’ve lived in the Celeo González neighborhood for 19 years.
We experienced the silent flooding. We stayed up all night and the house started flooding, the water pouring and pouring through the walls in silence. In less than 10, 15 minutes, it was almost to your chest. When the water got high, I was lucky that I got my family in the car. After 10 minutes or so, I regretted it, because we drove to a place that was totally flooded. Thank God I got out. I was with my nephews, my wife, and another person. A light bulb went off in my head. I stopped the car and we got on the roof of the car. After at about 11:00 in the morning, the water was definitely catastrophic. Whatever was around, the water would sweep it away – everything, tree trunks, pots, everything. Even things that you wouldn’t even think the water could move. We stayed there. Then we got onto a rooftop with 70 other people.
Karen Spring:
Like thousands of people in the cities of La Lima, El Progreso, and Choloma, José and his family waited for the water to go down or to be rescued. With the powerful water currents, and tons of debris floating in the water, many were forced to stay on the rooftop for days. And in fact, at the time of recording, there’s still people on the rooftops, even though over a week has passed since the storm hit Honduras.
From the rooftops, Hondurans began calling into radio stations, TV channels, and circulating videos on social media begging for help. Some were in tears, and sharing videos of their surroundings and what they could see from the rooftops. Others didn’t have this option. Electricity and phone networks and even some radio towers were knocked out by the flooding. Many had no choice but to sit tight on their roof, ration any water or food that they had, and hope that the water levels would go down, or that a boat would drive by to save them.
By Thursday morning, huge amounts of land and entire communities were either underwater or flooded with neck-high levels of water. Close to José’s home and the places where he was rescuing people, the San Pedro Sula airport was underwater. Many Hondurans turned into first responders and rescuers. Many were forced to make very difficult life-and-death decisions.
After the water went down, José and his family were able to get off the rooftop where they had taken refuge and seek dry land. Knowing that his family was safe, José began rescue operations into some of the most impacted areas.
José Milton Figueroa (interpreted in English):
At that point, knowing that my family was better, much better, I went back in. The Navy helped me get a boat and I went into the neighborhoods that were the most flooded, where the water covered everything. I was lucky to get elderly and children, so many children. We made around 18 trips back and forth.
I came across a person approximately 22 years old with blond hair. He was alone, and he yelled, “I’m here! Here I am!” But he seemed okay. It was to my surprise when we got closer with the boat, and I told him, “This trip we’ll take you, come, but don’t bring anything, just exactly what you have,” because there wasn’t space for a bag.
So he said, “Help me!” And I said, “Well, what’s wrong?” I didn’t know, but he had a prosthesis, a prosthesis on his leg. But he seemed fine to me looking from afar, he seemed healthy. And we were giving priority to children and the elderly. But he seemed young. But really, I didn’t know what he was dealing with. And when I realized, he thanked me, and he said that many boats had passed. He said people had seen me as young, but I’m ashamed to say that I have a prosthesis. He told me that he’d been there since it started, and we had been rescuing people since 1:00 in the afternoon. But he had spent the entire time on top of the house, the whole night. This is one of many true testimonies.
It was a good experience, and at the same time bitter, because I wish I could have saved more people. But, unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
I hope that we can start feeling ourselves begin coming together as a class of people. And this testimony that I’m giving you of my experience helps, because one must always be moving forward. After knowing that my family was okay, I could have easily gone with them. But no, the truth is – blood – human beings. We see there are good people, because besides me, I came across people, when I told them that I was hungry, they would give me a tortilla, so that I would have something to eat, because they were able to tell that I had not eaten. Seeing so many people from the highway up to the entrance of La Planeta neighborhood, where it wasn’t flooding. Seeing so many people giving out food to the people that had been rescued, I realized, people are amazing, man. If we take care of one another, we will make important changes. It will be clear who’s really got the power here. It’s us, the people!
Karen Spring:
As José is giving his testimony to a group of university students, as they stand in a shelter in San Pedro Sula, he keeps breaking down. His voice shakes and he starts to cry. The experience he lived and continues to live was definitely traumatic, emotional, and clearly very difficult. This experience has left a strong psychological impact on so many families in that region. One person told me that just the fear of the water rising again and rising quickly will cause hundreds of people to start running.
All around the San Pedro and El Progreso region, people that have lost their homes, or that have been forced to flee the flooding, have gathered on the side of the roads. They’ve gathered in schools, gymnasiums, and some community centers that are turned into shelters. Others have gathered under bridges or at the side of the road under tarps. Many are without adequate clothing, and food.
From shelters or from the sides of the road, family members search for their disappeared loved ones. When their family members didn’t answer their phones, many feared the worst. Hundreds of people posted pictures on social media with last known whereabouts information, desperately searching for their loved ones, or information about whether they were alive. Some remained in the flooding water, searching for their family members, not knowing if they were dead or alive.
This is José explaining the painful and desperate searches while he was out rescuing people by boat.
José Milton Figueroa (interpreted in English):
I arrived early to the [Villas] Kitur area, and there, exactly two blocks before there, before getting to the supermarket, there was a woman crying. And so she told me that the night before, they were rescued in a boat, and her husband had fallen out.
She said, “I know he’s not alive, I know he’s not alive, but I need to recover his body.” We went out all day – all day – and about three trips before we stopped, and she told us, “He had a backpack on.” I knew the man suffered from high blood pressure and had fallen.
We found his body wrapped in a barbed wire, and under a shed that had fallen on him. We rescued his body there. It was 4:30 in the afternoon when the woman got to where the body was. There, still crying, she said, “I knew I would find you.” It was an experience, but as I said, satisfying, but also very painful. Not so much physically, but really, to see my people suffer.
Karen Spring:
“Only the people save the people.” It’s a saying that Hondurans have been using very, very frequently, ever since Hurricane Eta hit. And the Honduran government has been largely absent from rescue efforts. And when they have been present, government institutions have actually impeded efforts.
For example, COPECO [Permanent Contingency Commission of Honduras] is the Honduran FEMA, or the disaster management institution of the government. The government announced shortly after the flooding had stopped that all international donations or big shipments from outside the country had to be handed over to COPECO. As Hondurans like José were carrying out boat rescue operations, COPECO was entirely absent, or actually even stopping boats from going out and doing rescue operations. COPECO authorities were telling boat drivers that COPECO representatives had to drive the boats or the boat drivers weren’t allowed to go out and help.
After strong public complaints about this, COPECO laid off a bit, but the Honduran government continues to try and control all assistance that is offered. Many believe this has to do a lot with corruption. And it has to do with political campaigning and the need for government officials to use any aid coming into the country to increase or buy votes and to influence public opinion in next year’s election. I wish I was making that up, because it’s just really sad.
It’s been over a week since the hurricane hit. Many families and communities are trying to return to their homes. There are still some people on the rooftops waiting to be rescued. Strong water currents and difficult access conditions have made rescuing very challenging.
For those families trying to return home, they’re returning to layers of mud. They’re returning to their living rooms with mud levels that go up to their knees. Some are returning to find all of their dead animals lying in piles on their properties. And of course, everything is caked in mud. And the smell from the debris, from the mud, from people that have been disappeared and haven’t been found, from the dead animals in the water, is absolutely awful.
On November 10, the Honduran government said that 58 people had lost their lives from Hurricane Eta. There is no way this is accurate. There are still several Facebook groups where family members continue to post pictures, begging for information, and searching for their disappeared loved ones. The Honduran government says that over 2.8 million people have been affected. That’s almost a third of the country’s population, and almost 10,000 families remain in shelters. Since the damage is still so recent, it’s hard to really know the numbers. And it’s even harder to believe the numbers that the government is giving.
After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, it took years for Honduras to recover. Just like then, it will take months of cleanup and years for Honduras to fully recover from Hurricane Eta.
For all those that are interested in supporting the efforts of community-based Honduran organizations that are working in the most impacted places, please check out the Honduras Solidarity Network’s Hurricane Eta Emergency Relief Fund. 100% of your donations go directly to the community-based organizations as well as the rescue teams that are doing a lot of the work. And, unsurprisingly, a lot of the work is being done by women. The Honduras Solidarity Network doesn’t pay salaries with that money. We are committed to making sure that that money goes to the people that have been doing the work for a long time, and that will continue the work for a long time after. I’ll post the link to the fundraiser in the show notes.
Thanks so much to you for listening to today’s episode. I’ll post the show notes on our website at HondurasNow.org. Thank you so much for your support. Until next time, hasta pronto.