BBC - London - 10/27/98
Mexico
People in Central America and southern Mexico are preparing for one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, as it
rushes towards the region's coast.
Meteorologists have classified the top-speed storm, called Mitch, as a potentially catastrophic Grade Five.
The rating is higher than for Hurricane Georges, which killed more than 500 people in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico in
September.
Remaining 'very dangerous'
Hurricane warnings are in effect for Honduras from Limon to the Nicaraguan border and for Swan Island, which belongs to Honduras.
In Mexico, a hurricane warning was issued for the southern Yucatan Peninsula.
The US National Hurricane Centre says: "Mitch is expected to remain a very dangerous hurricane capable of causing extreme
damage."
Analysts at the centre estimate that at 0900 GMT Mitch's centre was located about 152km north of Honduras.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Mexico City says that even in the dry vocabulary of forecasters, Hurricane Mitch is terrifying.
People living along the Caribbean coasts of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Mexico are waiting for the storm, which is expected
to arrive in the next few days.
It is not yet known when or where the storm will hit land, but with sustained wind speeds of more than 250kmh, Mitch is heralding
its presence with heavy rains, high waves and floods that have already killed one person in Panama.
Tourists evacuated, air travel suspended
After Hurricane Georges, no-one is taking the latest hurricane lightly.
With forecasters predicting life-threatening flash floods, mudslides and sustained gales that will attack shore areas with pounding
seas, thousands of tourists have evacuated resorts across the region.
Cuban authorities began evacuating tourists and workers from islands off its southern coast as heavy winds and high seas began to
be felt from Mitch's outer edge.
At least 500 foreigners and hundreds more Cuban hotel staff were taken off Cuba's Isla de la Juventud and Cayo Largo island,
officials said.
In Honduras, aid agencies and the army and police are all on full alert, while Guatemalan officials have suspended air and sea traffic
in the north of their country.
The tiny state of Belize has evacuated low-lying areas and authorities in the Cayman Islands - , the British territory south of Cuba -
have shut down government offices, schools and businesses.
Considerable threat
Forecasters say Mitch could weaken over the next few days, but will continue to pose a considerable threat.
Hurricanes are common in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, but
rarely have the region's communities had to cope with anything quite like this.
Category 5 hurricanes, with maximum sustained winds at or exceeding 250 kph, are the highest rating on the Saffir/ Simpson scale
of hurricane strength.
They are potentially catastrophic, likely to attack shore areas with pounding winds and rains that level buildings, tear roofs off others
and flood huge areas.
Only two storms are known to have been at Category 5 strength when they made landfall in the United States.
The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin was Hurricane Gilbert, which devastated Jamaica, the Caymans,
Martinique and parts of Mexico in 1988, killing 318 people. |
