Thread: Hurricane Beta strikes Nicaragua

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Hurricane Beta Roars Onto Nicaragua Coast
By FILADELFO ALEMAN, Associated Press Writer 46 minutes ago

Hurricane Beta swirled onto Nicaragua's central Caribbean coast Sunday, ripping off roofs, toppling trees and flooding low neighborhoods before weakening to a tropical storm. Heavy rain in Honduras caused four rivers to overflow and damaged farm crops.

No deaths or injuries were immediately reported, but officials said about 10 people were believed missing after trying to escape the storm by boat.

Beta came ashore near the remote town of Sandy Bay Sirpi, 200 miles northeast of Managua, as a category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

By midafternoon, it had weakened to a tropical storm with 65 mph winds as it moved inland, dumping up to 15 inches of rain. Beta was expected to continue losing strength and weaken to a tropical depression overnight.

While powerful, Beta was a small storm, with its initial hurricane-force winds extending outward only about 15 miles, the hurricane center said. At 4 p.m. EST, it was about 65 miles northwest of the coastal town of Bluefields, moving toward the west at 7 mph.

Forecasters had predicted Saturday that the storm would hit the far northeastern region of Nicaragua, prompting officials to evacuate thousands of people from the port of Cabo de Gracias a Dios and along the River Coco, both on the Honduras border.

But early Sunday, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season took an unexpected turn south and headed for Nicaragua's central coast.
Jack Howard, mayor of the central coastal town of Laguna de Perlas, told local television that 700 people were trapped in Tasbapauni, a town separated from the mainland by a lagoon.

Nicaragua's army chief, Gen. Omar Halleslevens, told reporters in the capital that Beta had destroyed or damaged some houses, ripped off building roofs, knocked down trees and caused some flooding. He said it also damaged at least one pier.

"No one was injured, no one was killed, thank God," President Enrique Bolanos said. "We are prepared from coast to coast."
However, Gustavo Ramos, mayor of the coastal city of Puerto Cabezas, said there were worries about some 10 people missing near his town. He said they were reported missing after their boat disappeared while they tried to escape Beta.

Education Minister Miguel Angel Garcia suggested that people in low-lying areas take refuge in schools until the storm completely passed. Classes remained suspended until further notice.

In Honduras, authorities evacuated more than 7,800 people Sunday from 50 communities north of the Nicaraguan border after four rivers overflowed from 4 inches of rain brought by Beta.
Strong winds knocked down signs, fences, trees and electricity and telephone poles, cutting off power and communication in hundreds of communities and at least two highways were blocked, said the country's disaster response chief, Hugo Arevalo.
Flooding damaged rice, corn and bean fields. High waters also sent snakes out of the jungle into residential areas, although there were no reports of snakebites.

The Honduran government set up shelters at schools and state buildings, while the national soccer league suspended all its games. The airports at La Ceiba and Roatan on the coast were operating sporadically due to poor visibility, strong winds and flooding.

President Ricardo Maduro said he had requested the help of helicopters at the U.S. air base at Palmerola, 30 miles north of the capital, to ferry supplies to flooded areas. He said the government had begun distributing about 2,000 tons of food donated by the United Nations.

Before coming ashore, Beta lashed the Colombian island of Providencia with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf. At least 30 people were injured on the tiny island about 125 miles off Nicaragua's coast, officials said.

Early this month, the category 1 Hurricane Stan hit this region, causing floods and mudslides that killed at least 654 people in Guatemala and 71 each in El Salvador and the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. An additional 828 people are still missing in Guatemala.

Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall as a category 4 storm, killed four people in Mexico, 12 in Haiti and one in Jamaica before killing 21 in southern Florida. It caused an estimated $1 billion in damage to Mexico's Cancun resorts and widespread power outages and other wreckage in Florida.

The U.S. Gulf Coast is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas in August.
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Associated Press writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Bayardo Mendoza in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua; and Dan Molinski in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
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There is a danger that this Hurricane and Hurricane Stan will be used as an excuse for putting more people in "Temporary" Protected Status
instead of rebuilding.

"Temporary Protected Status"

Oh Good Grief!

Whew...there is just no end to the nonsense.