Hurricane Felix: Natural Hazards

Category 5 hurricanes are rare. Rarer still is the storm that makes landfall as a www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml Category 5 storm -- most weaken before hitting land. Yet, exactly two weeks after Hurricane Dean struck the Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 storm, Hurricane Felix roared ashore as yet another. Felix came ashore over northeastern Nicaragua on September 4, 2007, with sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour), said the www.nhc.noaa.gov/ National Hurricane Center. Forecasters predicted that Felix would continue to move west over Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Heavy rain in these mountainous regions could trigger devastating floods and mudslides. This area is the same region which suffered major damage from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Though better prepared this time for such a storm, many fear a repeat of Mitch's devastation.