UPDATE Thursday 5, Nov98 10:51 CST

Hello everyone! We are still getting lots of requests for
information on the status here so I'll just continue this
newsletter for a while yet. Anyone who is not interested,
please let me know and I'll take you off the list.

The status on the Rio Dulce is pretty much the same as it
was yesterday. The river has stopped rising for now and has
actually dropped about 3/4 of an inch. It stopped rising
just short of coming over the floor of Bruno's restaurant.

The Cayuco Club is flooded so they are moving the restaurant
up to the ranchito at Mario's until the waters recede. On
the brighter side, the banks are open and they have plenty
of money today!

I have contacts with many of the local priests and
missionaries that work with the people in the villages in
the department of Izabal and they are starting to give me
more detailed assessments of the damage that has occurred.
Until last night, I had heard that the damage in Morales was
fairly light. It turns out that this is not the case. The
people I've been speaking with have only been visiting the
main street of Morales and the main street is about the only
spot in the whole area that did not suffer severe damage.

I have heard the following from the missionaries that are
touring the area from the air and on the ground: The Motagua
River flooded at least twice and most of the villages and
aldeas in the area surrounding Morales/Bananera are buried
under 4 to 6 feet or more of silt. Bridges are out or buried
in silt. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes.
Houses are filled up to the rooftops with silt. Most of the
banana plantations are destroyed and covered by several feet
of infertile sand. Both banana processing plants are filled
up to the rafters with sand and silt.

Most of you have probably read the article on deforestation
that is up on our web site at http://www.mayaparadise.com -
It would appear that Izabal has paid the price for the
deforestation along the Motagua up to El Rancho. The heavy
rainfall from "Mitch" dislodged an enormous amount of
unprotected soil and it came roaring down the Motagua
valley, burying the area surrounding Morales.

I've also heard that several thousand people are displaced
in the area around El Estor and are living in shelters.

Felipe
Capt. Nemo's Communications
Rio Dulce, Izabal, Guatemala

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