Tropical Storm Alma
Slams Nicaragua, Then
Weakens
Tropical Storm Alma
weakened to a tropical
depression Friday after
slamming into
Nicaragua's coast the
day before, forcing tens
of thousand of people to
evacuate and flooding
low-lying areas before
pushing into neighboring
Honduras.
By early Friday, the
weather system's winds
had fallen to about 30
mph, according to the
National Hurricane
Center. The storm was
expected to dissipate by
Saturday.
The National Hurricane
Center said Alma was the
first tropical storm in
the available records to
make landfall on Central
America's Pacific coast.
Such storms normally
make landfall farther
west, along Mexico's
Pacific coast, and often
hit Central America's
Atlantic coast.
Alma reached land
Thursday near the
Nicaraguan colonial city
of Leon. Mayor Transito
Tellez said houses had
been destroyed and power
knocked out by the
storm. Rescue personnel
described houses whose
roofs had been blow off,
and homes that had been
crushed by fallen trees.
The storm forced the
evacuation of as many as
25,000 people in the
area, and telephone
service was also knocked
out, said Civil Defense
Director Mario Perez
Cassar.
"The wind whipped up the
sand, and it lashed your
face like sandpaper,"
said Erasmo Lopez, a
fisherman in the coastal
hamlet of Poneloya, near
where Alma made
landfall. "The trees
were shaking like crazy,
cars were shuddering,
and you couldn't even
see in front of you."
Nicaragua's Radio Ya
reported that a
30-year-old man was
electrocuted in Trasbayo,
40 miles southeast of
Managua, after a power
line snapped under high
winds.
The fast-growing storm
took forecasters and
many in Central America
by surprise. Residents
scrambled to prepare for
the storm before it hit.
People crowded Managua
supermarkets to buy
food, water, candles and
batteries, and schools
canceled classes and
were on standby to
become temporary
shelters. Many flights
were also grounded.
The eastern Pacific
hurricane season began
May 15. |
