Hurricane Henriette threatened Mexico's mainland yesterday on a track for the southwestern United States, while the weakening remains of mighty Hurricane Felix, far to the south, caused flooding, landslides and at least 9 deaths in Central America.
Henriette killed at least seven people along the Pacific Coast but caused no deaths at it struck the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula. It remained dangerous as it moved over open water on a track to hit the Mexican mainland yesterday afternoon with top winds of 120 kph near Huatabampo, some 500 kilometers south of the Arizona border.
At 8 am EDT (8pm Beijing time), Henriette was centered about 95 kilometers west-southwest of Los Mochis on the Mexican mainland and it was moving north at 20 kph. Hurricane warnings were posted from Topolobampo in Sinaloa state north to Bahia Kino. From there, it was expected to weaken over Mexico's deserts and dump several centimeters of rain on southwest New Mexico today.
At least nine people were killed, 11 were missing and some 5,000 homes were damaged or destroyed after Felix slammed into Nicaragua's remote Miskito coast as a powerful Category 5 hurricane. The deaths included a man who drowned when his boat capsized, a woman killed when a tree fell on her house and a girl who died shortly after birth because the storm made it impossible for her to receive medical attention.
While Felix faded to a tropical depression, at least five nations in Central America were on alert for floods. As much as 64 cms of rain was predicted in some remote areas.
Streets were deserted and a steady rain fell as dawn broke yesterday in Honduras, where 27,000 people have been evacuated. A pounding, overnight rain caused flooding and landslides, blocking highways and destroying humble dwellings. But no deaths were reported inland communities.
Honduran emergency official Marcos Burgos said yesterday that the worst apparently had passed. "We may still have flooding, but we don't think it will be severe," he said.
Nicaragua's government declared its northern Caribbean region a disaster area and was airlifting sheets, mattresses, food, first aid and other help to Puerto Cabezas, a fishing town near where Felix made landfall on Tuesday with top winds of 258 kph. Some 15,800 of the area's 60,000 residents remained in 76 makeshift shelters.
Skies were sunny yestersday but thousands of people were cut off in the surrounding Gracias a Dios province, where even in the best of circumstances, transportation depends more on canoes and small motorboats than roads.
Nervous residents still remember Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which parked over Central America for days, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing.
Eight hours after Felix hit land in Central America on Tuesday, the eye of Hurricane Henriette struck Baja California - the first time two Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall the same day, according to records dating back to 1949.
Some blame global warming for another record - Felix, following Dean, made it the first season when two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes made landfall.
Source: China Daily/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article