Felix Weakens Over Nicaragua

September 5, 2007

Hurricane Felix weakened over Nicaragua and Honduras on Tuesday after making landfall earlier in the day. Felix came ashore in northwestern Nicaragua with winds of 160 mph. A storm surge of 18 feet was predicted for the area. Heavy rain drenched the area, with the National Hurricane Center predicting rainfall of five to 10 inches. Isolated amounts of 20 inches were expected in the mountains, prompting officials to warn of mudslides and flash floods. According to one responder in Nicaragua, the Civil Defense evacuated 15,000 people along the Coco River, Waspan, Bilwi and Cape Gracias a Dios. "Felix hit this morning [in] Sandy Bay, a scarcely populated area in the Caribbean," said Dámaris Albuquerque of Church World Service in Nicaragua. Hard winds and rains are pouring on Bilwi, the seat of this region," Albuquerque says. "The roofs from houses, schools have been blown away. It's too early to assess damages because the winds are hitting hard. The Provincial Office of the Moravian Church is also heavily damaged. People are in shelters." Felix had weakened slightly Monday, with winds dropping to 135 mph, but then picked up strength as it closed in on Central America as a Category 4 storm. The Nicaraguan government canceled all hurricane and tropical storm warnings Tuesday afternoon. The hurricane watch in Guatemala was also canceled. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the entire coast of Honduras. In Belize, a tropical storm watch was in place from Placentia Village to the Guatemalan/Belize border. Felix rekindled memories of Hurricane Mitch which hit Nicaragua and Honduras in 1988. It was one of the deadliest storms in the Atlantic, leaving at least 11,000 people dead and causing more than $5 billion in damage. Felix was the sixth named storm and the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. The season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

-Disaster News Network

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