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Hurricane Beta Hits Nicaragua's East Coast

Posted on: Sunday, 30 October 2005, 09:00 CST

By BAYARDO MENDOZA

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua - Hurricane Beta pounded Nicaragua's east coast with heavy rains and powerful winds Sunday as thousands sought protection in boarded-up homes or government shelters.

As the storm hit land near the remote town of La Barra, it weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was expected to sweep across Nicaragua, dumping up to 15 inches of rain.

While powerful, Beta was a small hurricane, with hurricane force winds extending outward up to 15 miles, the center said.

Before edging westward toward Central America, Beta, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season, lashed the Colombian island of Providencia with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf. At least 30 people were injured, Colombian Civil Defense Col. Eugenio Alarcon said.

The slow-moving storm battered the mountainous island for more than 12 hours and more than 300 wooden homes and buildings were damaged, most with their roofs torn apart, he said. Other extensive damage was also reported, but nobody was killed as most of the 5,000 islanders found safety by climbing the island's many hills to hunker down in brick shelters.

In Nicaragua, President Enrique Bolanos declared a maximum "red alert" late Saturday, ordering some 45,000 people from the port regions to stay in their homes or hole up in 15 shelters provided by the government.

Earlier in the day, army troops evacuated 10,000 people from the far eastern coastal port of Cabo de Gracias a Dios, and from along the River Coco, both on the Honduras border, said Nicaragua's national civil defense director, Lt. Col. Mario Perez Cassar.

The Civil Defense Department sent 100 army rescue specialists along with various land and water vehicles. A tent hospital also was set up, while universities and public schools were closed and converted into shelters. Flights to the Nicaraguan islands Islas del Maiz were canceled.

Residents of low-lying neighborhoods in Puerto Cabeza were taken to provisional shelters on higher ground as heavy rains and wind began to batter the coast, flooding some low-lying neighborhoods. Businesses raised food prices in response to the heavy demand, while bottled water supplies ran out. Authorities threatened to sanction the price gougers.

Mayor Gustavo Ramos said 10 people were reported missing after their boat disappeared in the storm, trying to escape the storm.

In Honduras on Saturday, President Ricardo Maduro declared a maximum state of alert as strong winds and intense rains from Beta began to batter the Atlantic coast. Authorities evacuated more than 50 people due to flooding in a coastal city also known as Gracias a Dios, on the border with Nicaragua.

Schools were closed in La Ceiba, 215 miles north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and officials also shut down the international airport there.

Maduro stressed the importance of being prepared to avoid a tragedy like the one caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. That storm stalled over Honduras with 120 mph winds, sweeping away bridges, flooding neighborhoods and killing thousands.

El Salvador went on preventive alert, although the storm is not projected at this point to reach the country.

Beta, which was not expected to hit the United States, was the 13th hurricane this year, more than any Atlantic season on record. This season has also seen 23 named storms, more than at any point since record-keeping began in 1851. The previous record of 21 was set in 1933.

Last week Tropical Storm Alpha formed, the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names was exhausted.

Hurricane Wilma, the most recent storm to hit the United States, caused widespread outages and gasoline shortages across Florida; and the U.S. Gulf Coast is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina, which caused chaos and devastation in New Orleans and surrounding areas in August.

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Associated Press writers Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua, Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Dan Molinski in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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