A resident walks under the rain in Puerto Cabezas, north-east of Nicaragua, on Saturday. Hurricane Beta slammed into Nicaragua's Caribbean coastline yesterday causing widespread flooding. - REUTERS
MANAGUA (AP):
HURRICANE BETA roared ashore along Nicaragua's remote Caribbean coastline yesterday, ripping off roofs, toppling trees and sparking floods.
The storm caused four rivers to overflow in Honduras before weakening to a tropical storm. There were no reports of deaths or injuries.
Beta hit land near the remote town of Sandy Bay Sirpi, 310 kilometres (200 miles) north-east of the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, as a Category Two hurricane with 105 mph (168 kph) winds, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
By yesterday afternoon, it had weakened to a tropical storm with 65 mph winds as it swept across Nicaragua, dumping up to 15 inches of rain. Beta was expected to continue losing strength as it moved farther inland during the course of the day, and was forecast to weaken to a tropical depression overnight.
Forecasters had predicted the storm would touch down in the far north-eastern region of Nicaragua, prompting officials to evacuate thousands of people from the far eastern coastal port of Cabo de Gracias a Dios, and from along the River Coco, both on the Honduras border.
But early yesterday, Beta took an unexpected turn south, and headed for Nicaragua's central coastline.
Jack Howard, the mayor of the central coastal town of Laguna de Perlas, told local television that 700 people were trapped in the coastal town of Tasbapauni, separated by a lagoon from the rest of the mainland, because they lacked fuel for their boats.
An additional 10 people were reported missing after their boat disappeared as they tried to escape the storm in the northern coastal city of Puerto Cabezas, said the mayor of that city, Gustavo Ramos.
Army chief Gen. Omar Halleslevens told a news conference in the capital that Beta had destroyed or damaged some homes, ripped off building roofs, toppled trees and provoked flooding. He said it also damaged at least one coastal pier.
