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Hurricane Beta targets Nicaragua jungle coast

Posted on: Saturday, 29 October 2005, 19:10 CDT

By Cyntia Barrera Diaz

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Hurricane Beta barreled toward Nicaragua's jungle coast on Saturday and hundreds of Miskito Indians and local residents huddled in shelters from the storm's lashing rains and wicked winds.

An unknown number of fishermen and their families on the sparsely populated coast refused to leave their flimsy wooden shacks, oblivious to the danger from Beta, which whipped up winds of 90 mph (150 kph) as it headed for Central America.

With the storm on course for a direct hit on this normally sleepy fishing town, officials scrambled to find more solid buildings to convert into shelters but feared there was not enough safe space for its 50,000 inhabitants, plus evacuees.

"We are prepared with food, we are prepared with medicines, with rescue soldiers, but we do not have the space to shelter thousands of people" in Puerto Cabezas, Defense Minister Avil Ramirez told local television.

Beta, the 23rd named hurricane of an unrelenting Atlantic-Caribbean season, the most active since record-keeping began more than 150 years ago, kept picking up steam and forecasters predicted landfall in Nicaragua overnight.

"I'm very frightened about the arrival of the storm," said 13-year-old Douglas Marin, who lives in an old, wooden shack in Puerto Cabezas. "Houses could collapse as the wood they are made from is rotten."

Some local residents refused to move to safer spots to avoid the full force of Beta, which pounded the port with rain, its gusts sending palm trees dancing.

"I'm not afraid, one should always trust in God. He is the only one who can decide on one's fate," said Bartolo Panting, a 40 year-old builder. "I'm not moving until it's really raining."

Earlier, barefoot fishing families carrying clothing in bags and furniture on their backs fled from coastal hamlets ahead of the full fury of the storm to seek protection in Puerto Cabezas, where schools turned into storm shelters.

But military and government officials struggled to persuade many inhabitants to evacuate the largely self-governing and independent coastal regions of Nicaragua, where local residents are traditionally wary of outsiders.

RIPPED OFF ROOFS

Soldiers evacuated 170 people from one coastal village but 30 refused to leave. "These people do not believe in danger until they really feel it," said Col. Mario Perez-Cassar, the head of Nicaragua's civil defense.

Beta is expected to slam into Nicaragua and move overland into neighboring Honduras, which declared a national emergency on Saturday, warning of mudslides and flooding as it prepared to evacuate up to 125,000 people

Beta ripped roofs off homes on Colombia's small Caribbean island of Providencia on Friday, which along with neighboring San Andres, was once a favored hideaway of famous 17th century Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. No deaths were reported.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe arrived in San Andres on Saturday to coordinate relief efforts. He plans a trip to Providencia as soon as conditions allow.

The Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale was expected to become even stronger before making landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Beta is expected to become a Category 2 hurricane and there is a chance it could become a Category 3 hurricane," the center said, warning of storm surge flooding of 10 to 15 feet

on the coast.

Small fishing villages populated by Indian tribes like the Miskitos and descendants of escaped African slaves are strung along the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua.

It is one of Central America's most isolated areas and transportation is often by plane or boat along muddy rivers.

"Hurricane Beta is expected to produce torrential rainfall with totals of 10 to 15 inches across northeastern Honduras and Nicaragua ... with isolated maximum amounts of 25 inches possible," the center said.

A record number of cyclones have hit the Atlantic-Caribbean area this hurricane season and residents were concerned after Hurricane Wilma wrecked Mexico's Caribbean beach resorts, flooded Cuba and pounded southern Florida this month.

Hurricane Stan killed as many as 2,000 people, mostly Guatemalan highland villagers, by deluging large areas of Central America with heavy rain earlier this month.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Beta was about 75 miles east of Puerto Cabezas and moving at 5 mph (7 kph).

(Additional reporting by Hugh Bronstein in Bogota, Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Ivan Castro in Managua)

Source: REUTERS

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