MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Central America: Two hurricanes in one day make history

A NOAA map shows hurricanes Henriette, left center, and Felix.

Hurricanes swept ashore in Nicaragua and Mexico within hours of each other Tuesday, the first time Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes have made landfall on the same day since the National Hurricane Center began keeping records in the 1940s.

Felix arrived first, punishing sparsely populated northern Nicaragua with 160 mph winds before dawn, then plowing inland across Honduras, threatening floods and mudslides in a region still recovering from Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 11,000 people in 1998. More than 1,900 miles away, Henriette swelled to hurricane strength Tuesday afternoon and roared onto the southern tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, an area thick with some of Latin America's swankiest hotels and vacation homes. Tuesday was historic for two reasons: It was the first time on record that two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes made landfall in the same year, with Felix coming two weeks after Hurricane Dean slammed into southern Mexico. And Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes had never made landfall on the same date, according to records that began in 1949. Felix, which is expected to dump up to 25 inches of rain in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, and the Guatemalan capital, Guatemala City, slashed through small villages in Nicaragua, turning thin walls into kindling, toppling trees and kicking up a heavy storm surge. In the Nicaraguan mining town of Bonanza, 1,000 refugees crowded into 16 shelters. Mayor Maximo Sevilla said most roads were washed out or blocked by debris. "We are cut off and being beaten by Hurricane Felix," Sevilla said by phone, pleading for help from officials. As soon as Felix moved inland, the Nicaraguan army sent in a planeload of life jackets and building materials. The army also sent soldiers to join 700 troops patrolling against looting and clearing debris. The storm confounded meteorologists. Originally forecast to slam into Belize today, it veered sharply south late Monday and early Tuesday, making landfall in a coastal region of Nicaragua populated primarily by small groups of Miskito Indians, many of whom refused to evacuate. The storm's 160 mph winds slammed the city of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, peeling roofs off shelters and a police station, knocking down electric poles and destroying or damaging 5,000 homes, according to Lt. Col. Samuel Perez, Nicaragua's deputy head of civil defense. (MP/Agencies)