Two Hurricanes Strike in 24 Hours: Felix and Henriette

MIAMI, Florida, September 4, 2007 (ENS) - Hurricane Felix slammed into northeastern Nicaragua's remote Miskito Coast as a dangerous Category 5 storm before dawn this morning, but now has weakened to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. While Felix is dropping torrents of rain on Central America, Hurricane Henriette is wreaking havoc on Mexico's Pacific coast.

Just after 2 pm local time, Hurricane Henriette battered resorts at the tip of Baja California with winds of up to 85 miles an hour - making for an unusual day with two hurricanes making landfall within 24 hours. More than 2,000 people were evacuated ahead of Henriette, and the Mexican government has declared a state of emergency in southern Baja California.

While just a tropical storm, Henriette killed seven people over the weekend in mudslides along Mexico's southern and southeastern Pacific coast.

NASA's Aqua satellite captured images of Henriette off Baja California, and Felix off the coast of Nicaragua. This composite shows the images collected in two consecutive orbits around the globe. Breaks in coverage between the orbits appear in gray. (Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC)

Felix could dump up to 25 inches of rain in these mountainous areas, which could "produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," the National Hurricane Center warned today.

Tourists fled the coast Monday ahead of Felix as Grupo Taca Airlines offered free flights to evacuate about 1,000 people from the Honduran island of Roatan, a dive mecca. Hundreds of others were evacuated from smaller islands and exposed shorelines.

But thousands of Miskito Indians were left in their marshy coastal home region to cope as best they can with a storm surge forecast to top 18 feet.

Towns across Honduras are flooding. In the resort town of La Ceiba on the northern coast, water in the streets has reached waist-level.

Early this morning, Hurricane Felix looms over Toncontin International Airport in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa. (Photo by Jose Conrado)

The hurricane is projected to cut a wide swath across inland Central American nations and is currently tracking along a similar path as Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which left millions displaced and over 21,000 people dead or missing.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC, has mobilized experienced relief personnel and essential supplies to the area. The IFRC has released $166,000 from its disaster relief emergency fund to immediately assist Red Cross Societies as they face the second category 5 hurricane to hit the area in two weeks. Hurricane Dean claimed 20 lives when it raced across the Caribbean on August 21.

"Past landslides have swept away entire villages," said Xavier Castellanos of the IFRC’s Zone office in Panama. "These hillsides are already muddy from recent storms. More heavy rain means our Red Cross teams on the ground are preparing for the worst."

National Red Cross Societies in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize and Mexico have pre-positioned hundreds of volunteers and established contact with community organizations and government institutions.

The International Federation’s Pan-American Disaster Response Unit, PADRU, is preparing relief supplies such as tents, tarpaulins, hygiene items and food in support of the effort. Red Cross Societies are coordinating with the authorities to evacuate thousands and manage communications in the likely event of power outages.

A truck from the Honduran emergency agency COPECO lines up for gas. (Photo by Jose Conrado)

"The earliest possible intervention by neighbors and local rescue teams ultimately saves many more lives than foreign rescue teams arriving to help, since they are often are delayed and lose precious hours during travel," said Stephen MacAndrew, who heads PADRU.

He says PADRU currently has the capacity to quickly meet the emergency needs of around 125,000 people should disaster strike tomorrow. This capacity has been almost doubled since last year in anticipation of a challenging hurricane season ahead.

The International Federation and PADRU continue supporting Hurricane Dean response operations in St. Lucia, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, Belize and Mexico.

The Inter-American Development Bank Friday announced the approval of a $100,000 grant to support Belize’s emergency relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Dean, which struck several countries around the Caribbean basin.

Dean struck the Yucatan Peninsula on August 21 in the neighboring Mexican state of Quintana Roo but its high winds caused extensive damage in northern districts of Belize, particularly around the town of Corozal.

Today is one for the record books. It is the first time that two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes made landfall in the same year, with Hurricane Felix forming just two weeks after Hurricane Dean.

In addition, for the first time since recordkeeping began in 1949, Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall on the same date.

As we enter the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season, scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting an 85 percent chance of an above-normal season, with the likelihood of 13 to 16 named storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, of which three to five could become major hurricanes.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.