Felix Weakens To Category 4 Hurricane

Monday, September 3rd 2007, 12:46 pm

By: News On 6

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) _ Hurricane Felix churned toward Central America on Monday, sending enormous waves crashing to shore as the Category 4 storm drew strength from the warm waters of the Caribbean. Forecasters said it could hit the coast with catastrophic winds shortly after daybreak Tuesday.

As Felix headed west with 145 mph winds, tourists jammed the airports and locals stocked up on food and plywood or moved to higher ground. The storm was projected to reach Honduras on Tuesday and then slam into Belize, where many residents were still cleaning up from last month's Hurricane Dean.

``We are ready to face an eventual tragedy,'' said Douglas Fajardo, fire chief on the Caribbean resort island of Roatan.

Honduras evacuated 2,000 people from its coast and island resorts, including some 700 tourists, as winds and surf picked up Monday. Some waves were crashing 15 feet higher than normal, but there was no rain yet.

``The tourists, they're evacuating. We're staying here,'' said Estella Marazzito, who works at a Roatan real estate company.

In Belize, residents stocked up on water and food, and nailed boards over windows. Many who live in low-lying areas moved to higher ground. And many were still cleaning up from last month's Hurricane Dean, which caused an estimated $100 million in damage, mostly to agriculture, in Belize alone.

``I stopped cleaning debris and trees from my yard. Might just get messed up again,'' said Wayne Leonardo.

Felix seemed likely to make landfall at the Honduras-Nicaragua border, along the remote Miskito Coast, which was already being pounded by heavy rain Monday. Honduran lawmaker Carolina Echeverria said officials were still trying to find enough gas to fuel boats evacuating people in the region, where isolated Miskito Indians speak a mix of Spanish and creole.

Honduran authorities also cleared vendors from markets prone to flooding in the highland capital of Tegucigalpa, more than 100 miles inland.

In Belize City, skies grew increasingly cloudy and winds kicked up as people boarded up the windows and lined up at gas stations. Tourists claimed the remaining seats on flights to Atlanta and Miami.

``I just wish they had more airplanes to take care of everyone who has to leave,'' said Mitzi Carr, 48, who cut her weeklong vacation short on the island of Hatchet Caye and was still waiting for a flight home to Atlanta.

Felix, which briefly reached category 5 status Monday, is the second Atlantic hurricane of the season following last month's Hurricane Dean, which killed at least 28 people as plowed through the Caribbean and then slammed into Mexico as a Category 5 storm.

This is only the fourth year since 1886 that more than one Category 5 hurricane was recorded in an Atlantic season, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Only 31 Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic since 1886, and eight of them have formed in the last five seasons.

At 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Felix's winds had dropped slightly from a peak of 165 mph. And while it remained a fearsome hurricane, it had a very small wind field, with hurricane-force winds extending 30 miles from its center.

Felix was centered about 305 miles east of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border, moving west at about 21 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was projected to slash across Guatemala's Peten region and southern Mexico, then emerge in the southern Gulf of Mexico, an area dotted with major oil drilling platforms.

Off Mexico's Pacific coast, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Henriette was nearing hurricane strength on a path to hit the resort-studded tip of the Baja California Peninsula on Tuesday.

With maximum sustained winds at near 70 mph, Henriette has been lashing the western coast of Mexico, causing flooding and landslides that killed six in Acapulco. Three were killed when a giant boulder fell on their home, and three more died when a landslide slammed into their house.

The storm was centered about 225 miles south-southeast of the tip of the peninsula, pushing waves up to 22 feet high as it moved northwest at about 10 mph.

Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist with the hurricane center, warned that both Felix and Henriette could shift course and that people in the general areas should remain alert even if they aren't in the storms' direct paths.

``Even if the forecast is perfect, that's only forecasting where the center of the storm is going to go,'' she said. ``So everyone in the area needs to be aware of it, because the storms are quite large.''

She said workers on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in particular should monitor Felix, which could reach the area by week's end.