News / Science & Technology
Hurricanes Felix and Henriette to Ravage Central America and Miskito Indians
Hurricane Felix and Henriette are both on course to hit the coasts of Central America. This is the first time two top-scale storms have come ashore at the same time in recorded history.
Felix, a category 5 hurricane, is expected to devastate the coastline, which is home to the native Miskito Indians. The Miskitos live in wooden shacks, get around on canoes and subsist on fish, beans, rice, cassava and plantains. Thousands were stranded along the coast late Monday.
With winds of 155 mph, it is set to hit the Nicaragua/Honduras border early Tuesday. Over 1,000 tourists were evacuated from the Honduran island of Roatan. Another 1,000 people were evacuated from other coastline island and areas. Another 18,000 people are said to have to find their own way to a higher ground.
Felix is projected to rake northern Honduras, slam into southern Belize on Wednesday and then cut across northern Guatemala and southern Mexico, well south of Texas.
Henriette, which was upgraded from a tropical storm, was on a path to hit the tip of the Baja California Peninsula on Tuesday afternoon. The storm had sustained winds of 75 mph and, at 8 a.m. EDT, was centered about 80 miles south-southeast of the peninsula.
Henriette claimed seven lives even before it strengthened into a hurricane. One woman drowned in high surf in Cabo San Lucas on Monday, and the storm caused flooding and landslides that killed six people in Acapulco.
