Beta threatened to become a category 3 hurricane as it neared Central America's Caribbean coast early yesterday, its outer bands pounding the mainland with heavy rains and high winds. Thousands of residents awaited the storm in boarded-up homes or in government shelters.
The hurricane's winds had increased to nearly 175kph as Beta headed toward the Nicaragua-Honduras border. A category 3 storm has winds of at least 180kph.
Hondurans nervously watched the progress of Beta as President Ricardo Maduro warned of the importance of being prepared to avoid another Hurricane Mitch, which in 1998 stalled over Honduras with 205kph winds, sweeping away bridges, flooding neighborhoods and killing thousands of people.
Before edging westward toward Central America, a slow-moving Beta, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season, lashed the Colombian island of Providencia with heavy winds, rains and high surf.
Several people were injured during the hurricane, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Saturday, though he did not provide an exact figure or give the extent of the injuries. No deaths were reported.
Roofs were ripped off of dozens of wooden homes, the island's main communications tower was knocked over and a tourist foot bridge was torn apart. But most of the 5,000 islanders stayed safe by climbing Providencia's many hills to hunker down in brick shelters.
In Nicaragua, President Enrique Bolanos declared a maximum "red alert" late Saturday, ordering everyone to stay inside, and said that some 45,000 people from the port regions were either secured in their homes or holed up in 15 shelters provided by the government.
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.
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