Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua's Miskito Coast as a
record-setting Category 5 monster storm yesterday, whipping metal
rooftops through the air like razors and forcing thousands to
flee.
Hurricane Felix
slammed into Honduras.
"The winds are horrible," Red Cross official Claudio Vanegas
said by phone from the Nicaraguan town of Puerto Cabezas shortly
after Felix struck land nearby with winds of 260 kph. "They send
roofs flying through the air, so we aren't going outside because it
is too dangerous."
Meanwhile, off Mexico's Pacific coast, Hurricane Henriette
gained force as it bore down on upscale Cabo San Lucas, a resort
popular with Hollywood stars and sports fishermen. The US National
Hurricane Center said it had winds of 140 kph and that the center
would likely hit land yesterday afternoon.
Early yesterday, carloads of curious spectators passed by the
Cabo San Lucas marina, where waves crashed into rock barriers,
sending plumes of white water 10 meters into the air. Catamarans
crashed against their moorings, and officials were lashing docks
together to try to keep them from washing out to sea. Palm trees
bent over in the wind.
Felix landed around dawn at Punta Gorda, 40 kilometers north of
Puerto Cabezas, only two weeks after Hurricane Dean struck Mexico,
further up the Caribbean coast.
Never before in recorded hurricane history have two Category 5
Atlantic hurricanes made landfall in the same year. Only 31
Category 5 storms have been seen in the Atlantic since
record-keeping began in 1886, including eight in the last five
seasons.
As it roared inland, Felix's winds weakened to a 195 kph and it
was about 65 kilometers west of Puerto Cabezas by 11 AM EDT (15:00
GMT). It was expected to weaken further as it marches inland at 24
kph.
"The major concern now shifts to the threat of torrential rains
over the mountains of Central America. Isolated maximum totals of
65 centimeters are possible. Persons living in flood-prone areas
should take all precautions to protect life and property," said
senior hurricane specialist Richard Pasch at the Hurricane Center
in Miami.
Henriette claimed seven lives even before it strengthened into a
hurricane. One woman drowned in high surf in Cabo San Lucas on
Monday, and the storm caused flooding and landslides that killed
six people in Acapulco.
At 11 AM EDT (15:00 GMT) Henriette was centered 95 kilometers
south-southeast of the Baja California peninsula and it was
strengthening. Strong winds were already pounding the beaches and
rain fell in sheets. More than 100 residents spent the night in
shelters.
In Nicaragua's remote northeast corner, more than 12,000 people
were evacuated just ahead of Felix's landfall, including from a
local hospital, but some refused to leave vulnerable coastal
communities, and distress calls were received from three boats with
a total of 49 people on board, civil defense official Rogelio
Flores said.
In neighboring Honduras, 2,500 people were evacuated from the
Bay Islands ahead of the storm, including hundreds of tourists.
Phones and power were out in much of the Miskito Coast, making
it difficult to find out what was happening in the remote, swampy
area where many people get around on canoes. Radio reports said a
Catholic church in Puerto Cabezas was destroyed by winds.
Rogelio Perez, a local emergency official, said the army was
preparing to fly over the area and assess damage. However,
emergency officials said they had no immediate reports of victims,
and that most people in low-lying areas had been moved to shelters
on higher ground.
(China Daily via agencies September 5, 2007)
