INTERNATIONAL: Catastrophic Storm Heads for Central America Coast

Hurricane Felix rapidly strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm as it headed through the Caribbean Sea towards Central America, where forecasters said it could make landfall with “potentially catastrophic” effect.

Felix was packing winds of up to 165mph as it headed west, according to the US National Hurricane Centre. It was projected to skirt Honduras’s coastline today before hitting into Belize tomorrow.

A hurricane watch was issued for parts of Honduras, where authorities were keeping a close eye on the storm but had not begun any evacuations.

Along the northern coastline, hoteliers said tourists were still lounging by the pool and enjoying the sun.

In Belize, residents stocked up on water and food, and boarded up windows to protect against the hurricane’s winds. Many who lived in low-lying areas were seeking higher ground.

On Sunday, Felix toppled trees and flooded some homes on the Dutch islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire in the southern Caribbean.

Heavy rains and winds caused scattered power outages and forced thousands of tourists to take refuge in hotels, but residents expressed relief it did far less damage than feared as the storm’s outer bands grazed the tiny islands.

Felix is the second Atlantic hurricane of the season following last month’s Hurricane Dean, which killed at least 20 in the Caribbean and carved out a destructive swath stretching from St Lucia to Mexico.

At 4am British time, Felix was centred about 345 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and was heading west at about 24 mph, the hurricane centre said.

Off the Pacific coast of Mexico, meanwhile, forecasters said Tropical Storm Henriette could strengthen to a hurricane, and officials issued a hurricane watch for the resort-studded tip of the Baja California peninsula, a holiday area popular with Hollywood stars and sea fishing enthusiasts.

Henriette dumped heavy rain on western Mexico. In the resort city of Acapulco, three people were killed when a giant boulder fell on their home, and three more died when a landslide slammed into their house.

Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist with the hurricane centre, warned that both Felix and Henriette could shift course and said people in the general areas should remain alert even if they are not in the storms’ direct paths. She advised oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico to monitor Felix’s progress.

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