Beco
I'm Not Your Guru
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- Sep 12, 2002
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SAN ANDRES ISLAND, Colombia (Oct. 29) - Hurricane Beta battered the mountainous Caribbean island of Providencia on Saturday, ripping roofs off wooden homes and forcing people to seek shelter in brick shelters on high ground.
Heading toward Central America, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season lashed the Colombian island with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its Caribbean coast and began evacuating thousands of people as forecasters predicted the Category 1 hurricane would strengthen before hitting Central America.
The hurricane was expected to hit Central America by Sunday as a Category 2 storm. It was not predicted to affect the United States.
Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its entire Caribbean-side coast. Thousands of people were being evacuated and soldiers were brought in to help. Strong winds and heavy rain late Friday began lashing Puerto Cabezas, about 250 miles northeast of Managua, where 32,000 residents were preparing to ride out the hurricane.
The hurricane center warned of storm surges of up to 13 feet along the eastern coast of Nicaragua when the slow-moving storm makes landfall.
Some 8,000 people in low-lying Nicaraguan coastal communities, mainly Indians, were evacuated to schools. A hospital evacuated patients, and residents lined up to buy supplies.
In Honduras, where Beta might also hit, officials set up shelters and sent food and other supplies to areas that might be affected by the storm. Honduras issued a hurricane watch on Friday for a 100-mile stretch of coast from Punta Patuca eastward to the border with Nicaragua. The hurricane center said 10 to 15 inches of rainfall could fall across northeastern Honduras.
Forecasters in Jamaica issued flash flood warnings Friday amid projections that rain from Beta would cause already swollen rivers to overflow their banks and set off mudslides and flooding.
The islands of Providencia and San Andres, which are popular with scuba divers, are about 450 miles northwest of Colombia and 125 miles off Nicaragua's coast.
Beta was the 13th hurricane this year, more than any Atlantic season on record. This season has also seen 23 named storms, more than at any point since record-keeping began in 1851. The previous record of 21 was set in 1933. Last week Tropical Storm Alpha formed, the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names was exhausted.
Associated Press writers Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua, Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Dan Molinski in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
Heading toward Central America, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season lashed the Colombian island with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its Caribbean coast and began evacuating thousands of people as forecasters predicted the Category 1 hurricane would strengthen before hitting Central America.
The hurricane was expected to hit Central America by Sunday as a Category 2 storm. It was not predicted to affect the United States.
Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its entire Caribbean-side coast. Thousands of people were being evacuated and soldiers were brought in to help. Strong winds and heavy rain late Friday began lashing Puerto Cabezas, about 250 miles northeast of Managua, where 32,000 residents were preparing to ride out the hurricane.
The hurricane center warned of storm surges of up to 13 feet along the eastern coast of Nicaragua when the slow-moving storm makes landfall.
Some 8,000 people in low-lying Nicaraguan coastal communities, mainly Indians, were evacuated to schools. A hospital evacuated patients, and residents lined up to buy supplies.
In Honduras, where Beta might also hit, officials set up shelters and sent food and other supplies to areas that might be affected by the storm. Honduras issued a hurricane watch on Friday for a 100-mile stretch of coast from Punta Patuca eastward to the border with Nicaragua. The hurricane center said 10 to 15 inches of rainfall could fall across northeastern Honduras.
Forecasters in Jamaica issued flash flood warnings Friday amid projections that rain from Beta would cause already swollen rivers to overflow their banks and set off mudslides and flooding.
The islands of Providencia and San Andres, which are popular with scuba divers, are about 450 miles northwest of Colombia and 125 miles off Nicaragua's coast.
Beta was the 13th hurricane this year, more than any Atlantic season on record. This season has also seen 23 named storms, more than at any point since record-keeping began in 1851. The previous record of 21 was set in 1933. Last week Tropical Storm Alpha formed, the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names was exhausted.
Associated Press writers Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua, Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Dan Molinski in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
