BILWI, (Nicaragua), Sept 6 (AFP): Rare double hurricanes lashed Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico Wednesday, killing at least 38 people as a waning Felix left a trail of destruction and Henriette gathered force.
Nicaraguan authorities said Felix's toll was likely to rise after it displaced 50,000 people and sent search-and-rescue teams fanning out along the northeast of the country, where the storm hit hardest.
"There are 38 dead," national disaster authority chief Ramon Arnesto Soza told local radio, adding that the number was expected to rise. Some 120 people who had refused to evacuate their homes were missing, he said.
"We must speed up (search) efforts," said Reynaldo Francis, governor of Nicaragua's impoverished North Atlantic Autonomous Region, the worst hit by the hurricane.
One day after it slammed ashore from the Caribbean, smashing thousands of homes, Felix lost all its punch, but the rain it dumped raised fears of floods and mudslides in neighboring Honduras.
Teams deploying along Nicaragua's coast feared they would find more death and destruction as they made their way to isolated communities whose wooden shacks offered no protection from the 260 kilometer (160 mile) per hour winds the hurricane packed when it thundered onto land.
Felix kills 38 in Nicaragua
FE Team | Published: September 07, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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