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Twin hurricanes nail Americas

Lightning strikes in San Salvador, El Salvador, during a thunderstorm on Tuesday as Hurricane Felix approached. Central American authorities evacuated thousands of residents and tourists from the Caribbean coasts as the massive hurricane rekindled bitter memories of Hurricane Mitch, which killed 11,000 people and displaced 2.5 million in the region -- mostly in Honduras -- in 1998. PHOTO: AFP

Torrential rains and winds de-stroyed thousands of homes and killed at least three people as Felix pushed across Nicaragua and Honduras, while Henriette punished resorts as it roared over the Baja Peninsula toward mainland Mexico.

Felix rapidly weakened into a tropical storm on Tuesday as it headed inland after slamming into Central America's remote Miskito coastline as a Category 5 hurricane. But officials feared it could still dump up to 640mm of rain, triggering mudslides and floods in areas where shantytowns cling precariously to hillsides.

Hard hit was Puerto Cabezas on Nicaragua's remote northeast coast where Felix destroyed or badly damaged almost half the city's houses, ripping roofs off of shelters and killing at least three people, officials said.

Nervous residents still remember Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which parked over Central America for days, causing flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing.

Eight hours after Felix hit land in Central America on Tuesday, Henriette's eye struck Los Cabos and roared across the Baja peninsula, passing over resorts popular with Hollywood stars and sports fishermen.

Airports were closed, leaving tourists to face driving rain and 4.5m waves, but there were no deaths reported during the storm's passage over the peninsula on Tuesday.

Tuesday's twin hurricanes were historic. It was the first time on record that two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes made landfall in the same year with Felix coming only two weeks after Hurricane Dean slammed into southern Mexico. Also it was the first time Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall the same day, according to records dating back to 1949.

The closest comparison happened at 5am on Aug. 24, 1992, when Andrew devastated southern Florida 23 hours after Lester hit Baja California, Mexico.

On the outskirts of Cabo San Lucas, away from the resorts, 39-year-old construction worker Jesus Huerta said Henriette blew the roof off his tin-roofed shack and soaked his family's mattresses and other possessions. But he said he doesn't expect help from the government.

"They just make promises," said the father of five as he surveyed the wreckage.

Elsewhere, catamarans crashed against their moorings and palm trees bent in the wind before the eye moved directly over Cabo San Lucas.

At 11pm EDT, Henriette had crossed the Baja California peninsula and was over the Gulf of California headed toward the mainland with winds near 120kph. Its center was 200km east of La Paz and it was forecast to reach mainland Mexico within 24 hours.

The Miami-based center issued hurricane warnings for Mexico's coast from Topolobampo in Sinaloa State north to Bahia Kino. Henriette is expected to drop 50mm of rain on the US southwest tonight.

In Nicaragua, Felix slammed into Puerto Cabezas on Tuesday with 260kph winds, peeling roofs off shelters, knocking down electric poles and destroying or damaging some 5,000 homes, according to Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Perez, Nicaragua's deputy head of civil defense.

The Puerto Cabezas area has about 60,000 residents and 12,000 homes. Perez said one man had drowned when his boat capsized, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her house and a girl died shortly after birth because the storm made it impossible for her to receive medical attention.

The mayor of Bonanza, Nicaragua, Maximo Sevilla, said late on Tuesday that the mining town was cut off by the storm with 1,000 refugees crowded into 16 shelters. He said all the roads were washed out or blocked by debris.

In Honduras, the government was letting water out of dams in an attempt to reduce flooding, and 10,000 people were being evacuated from the capital.

President Manuel Zelaya said the densely forested region along Honduras' border with Nicaragua served to break down Felix. He said he doubted the storm would bring the devastating mudslides and flooding triggered by Mitch.
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