Hurricane FELIX Slams Into Central America

LA CEIBA, Honduras – Hurricane Felix roared ashore early Tuesday as a fearsome Category 5 storm, the first time in recorded history that two top-scale storms have made landfall in the same season.

The hurricane hit near the Nicaragua-Honduras border, whipping metal rooftops through the air like razors and forcing thousands to flee coastal swampland. Felix was the first of two major storms expected to make landfall on Tuesday: Off Mexico’s Pacific coast, Hurricane Henriette gained force as it churned toward the upscale resort of Cabo San Lucas, popular with Hollywood stars and sea fishing enthusiasts.

In Nicaragua and Honduras, more than 14,000 people were evacuated just ahead of Felix’s landfall, and three boats loaded with a total of 49 people sent out distress calls, civil defense official Rogelio Flores said in Nicaragua. Felix, which blew ashore with 160 mph winds, weakened to a Category 3 within hours. “The winds are horrible,” Red Cross official Claudio Vanegas said by phone from the Nicaraguan town of Puerto Cabezas shortly after Felix struck land.

“They send roofs flying through the air, so we aren’t going outside because it is too dangerous.” 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 depend on canoes for transport. Provincial health official 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. “Some refused to leave their homes, but most are safe,” Vanegas said. The only path to safety for many of Miskito Indians was up rivers and across lakes that are too shallow for regular boats, but many lacked gasoline for long canoe journeys out.

And damaging winds and floods could wipe out their crops of beans, rice, cassava and plantains. In Honduras seaside resort of La Ceiba, residents spent the night reinforcing the flimsy walls of their homes with plywood and sandbags. “It’s going to be strong, but we have faith that Christ will protect us,” said Sandra Hernandez, a 37-year-old housewife who watched satellite images of the storm on television.

Hurricane Dean struck Mexico two weeks ago as a Category 5 storm, and Felix’s landfall marked the first time that two Category 5 hurricanes have hit land in a season since 1886, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Only 31 such storms have been recorded in the Atlantic, including eight in the last five seasons. “This is an extremely dangerous and potentially catastrophic hurricane. We just hope everybody has taken the precautions necessary to protect life and property,” Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said Tuesday.

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. “Some refused to leave their homes, but most are safe,” Vanegas said. Off Mexico’s Pacific coast, Henriette strengthened into a hurricane and was on a path to hit the tip of the Baja California Peninsula on Tuesday afternoon.

The storm had sustained winds of 75 mph and, at 8 a.m. EDT, was centered about 80 miles south-southeast of the peninsula. Before dawn Tuesday, strong waves pounded the resort’s beaches, rain fell in sheets and strong winds whipped palm trees. More than 100 residents spent the night in makeshift shelters as the storm approached, and more were expected to leave their homes Tuesday. Henriette has already claimed seven lives.

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. Early Tuesday, carloads of curious spectators passed by the Cabo San Lucas marina, where waves crashed into rock barriers, sending plumes of white water 30 feet 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 in the wind. On Tuesday, in the final hours before Hurricane Felix hit, Grupo Taca Airlines frantically airlifted tourists from the Honduran island of Roatan, popular for its pristine reefs and diving resorts, while the U.S. Southern Command said a Chinook helicopter evacuated 19 U.S. citizens, including tourists and members of U.S. Joint Task Force-Bravo who were visiting the island. Delta Airlines sent an extra flight Tuesday to Honduras to help customers escape Felix.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Felix was about 40 miles west of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and headed over the mountains of Central America. The storm was following the same path as 1998’s Hurricane Mitch, a sluggish storm that stalled for a week over the region, killing nearly 11,000 people and leaving more than 8,000 missing, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua. With winds of 85 mph, Henriette was centered 60 miles south-southeast of the Baja California peninsula and growing stronger.

Meteorologists agree that it is impossible to determine if any single hurricane is the result of climate change. But they differ on the key question of whether global warming is making hurricanes stronger. Some scientists say that more intense hurricanes are forming because of human-caused increases of sea surface temperatures.

Others say that newer technology such as satellites and other devices allow better storm strength measurements, and that accounts for the increase in detecting more powerful hurricanes.

By IOAN GRILLO, Associated Press Writer

— Associated Press writers Paul Kiernan in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Olga Rodriguez in Belize City; Diego Mendez in San Salvador, El Salvador; Freddy Cuevas in Tegicugalpa, Honduras; and John Pain in Miami contributed to this report.