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Beta Becomes 13th Hurricane of Season

Posted on: Saturday, 29 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

By MARKO ALVAREZ

SAN ANDRES ISLAND, Colombia - The storm Beta strengthened as it battered the tiny Caribbean island of Providencia on Saturday, setting a record by becoming the 13th hurricane of this relentless Atlantic season.

Beta lashed the mountainous Manhattan-sized island owned by Colombia with damaging winds, torrential rains and high surf, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"Extensive damage to homes has occurred on the island," the hurricane center said. Though the center said all communications to Providencia have been lost, there was intermittent phone service.

During a brief time in which phones were working on the island, officials there said scores of homes had been damaged, but it appeared residents were safe.

"We believe there are no deaths or injuries," Capt. German Collazos, ports chief on the island, told The Associated Press by telephone late Friday, about three hours into the storm.

But he said officials could not do a complete check on the 5,000 residents on the island and a handful of tourists until daybreak. A total of 25 inches of rain could fall on the island, the hurricane center said.

At 5 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center said Beta was a Category 1 hurricane centered about 130 miles east of the Nicaraguan coastal town of Puerto Cabezas moving slowly northwest at nearly 3 mph. Its maximum sustained wind speed had increased to near 80 mph, and it was expected to strengthen.

The hurricane, which began whipping Providencia on Friday, was expected to move north-northwest and slam into Central America by Sunday as a Category 2 storm. It was not expected to affect the United States.

Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its entire Caribbean-side coast. Thousands of people were being evacuated and soldiers were brought in to help. Strong winds and heavy rain late Friday began lashing Puerto Cabezas, about 250 miles northeast of Managua, where 32,000 residents were preparing to ride out the hurricane.

The hurricane center warned of storm surges of up to 13 feet along the eastern coast of Nicaragua when the slow-moving storm makes landfall.

Some 8,000 residents of low-lying Nicaraguan coastal communities, mainly Indians, were evacuated to local schools. A local hospital evacuated patients, and residents lined up to buy supplies.

"These things are terrifying," said shopkeeper Ofelia Rivera, 63. "No hurricane has ever hit here before."

Classes were canceled, and businesses were warned against price gouging.

"We can't do anything about damage to property," said Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos. "The important thing is to save lives."

On Friday, hundreds of villagers on tiny Providencia hiked into the mountains, fleeing the powerful storm. About 300 local residents and a dozen tourists fled wooden homes along the coast for sturdier brick shelters in the highlands, officials said.

In the neighboring Colombian-owned island of San Andres, just south of Providencia, only the storm's outer bands touched land, bringing light rains and wind. After the storm passed, tourists returned to the beaches.

The islands, popular with scuba divers, are located about 450 miles to the northwest of Colombia but just 125 miles off Nicaragua's coast.

The hurricane was the 13th this year, more than any Atlantic season on record. This hurricane 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.

In Jamaica, forecasters issued flash flood warnings Friday amid projections that rain from Beta would cause already swollen rivers to overflow their banks and set off mudslides and flooding.

In Honduras, where Beta may also hit later this weekend, officials set up shelters and sent food and other supplies to areas that might be affected by the storm. Honduras issued a hurricane watch on Friday for a 100-mile stretch of coast from Punta Patuca eastward to the border with Nicaragua. The hurricane center said 10 to 15 inches of rainfall could fall across northeastern Honduras.

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

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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