Honduras faces Felix
after Nicaragua takes
brunt
Hurricane Felix has
weakened to a tropical
storm but there are
still fears it could
trigger mudslides in
shantytown areas of
Central America.
Officials feared it
could dump up to 64cm
(25 inches) of rain,
causing mudslides and
floods in areas where
thousands of shacks are
built on the hillsides.
Felix destroyed
thousands of homes and
killed four people when
it crossed Nicaragua's
Miskito coast yesterday
as a category five
hurricane.
One of the worst-hit
areas was Puerto Cabezas
on Nicaragua's remote
north-east coast where
Felix destroyed or badly
damaged almost half the
city's houses.
Last night it weakened
to a tropical storm as
it headed inland towards
Honduras.
Airports were closed,
leaving tourists to face
driving rain and
4.5-metre waves, but
there were no deaths
reported during the
storm's passage over the
peninsula.
The Honduran government
has ordered 30,000
people to evacuate their
homes.
Ricardo Alvarez, the
mayor of the Honduran
capital, Tegucigalpa,
told Reuters: "Here it
rains for two hours and
the city floods. They're
saying it could rain for
18 hours and we're
preparing for the
worst."
Up to 400,000 residents
of the city live in
areas considered
vulnerable. |
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