Felix Aftermath

[bvigal]

getting logged out.
I logged in. I wrote a response. I uploaded a picture to include. When I clicked "preview" I was LOGGED OUT. I LOST IT ALL. I can't even stay logged in long enough to make a post - it was less than 4 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!

[bvigal]

(abbreviated version of my lost post) Why I believe Felix is not going to be the scale of disaster as Mitch:
Mitch was a monster, despite Felix being a Cat 5.
Was offshore in Gulf of Honduras for 3 days before landfall, raining 70 inches in the mountains of Nicaragua and Honduras. I was agonizingly watching it every minute for days, because friends were there (and died). The track before landfall looked like a hopscotch pattern.
pic - 2 days before landfall

[Derek Ortt]

11 a.m. update... wish this slowdown did not already start

http://www.nwhhc.com/atl062007.html

Expecting more rain than Fifi since this is likely to move a little slower than Fifi

[Lost in Belize]

The National Emergency Management Organization in Belize has announced an All-Clear for effect of 2:00 PM EDT. There is still a Tropical Storm warning for the southern coastline in the Toledo and Stann Creek districts, and a flood watch in those areas. Evacuees have started to return to the coastal area.

Happy to say that Belize has dodged the bullet yet another time. God takes care of idiots, drunks and babies, I am sure we qualify in at least two of those categories.

Our prayers go out to those affected in Honduras and Northern Nicaragua.

[CrazyC83]

One thing to remember: since these are much poorer counties with far less advanced communications than the US or much of the Caribbean, the reports will be slow to come in (like with Stan).

[cycloneye]

One thing to remember: since these are much poorer counties with far less advanced communications than the US or much of the Caribbean, the reports will be slow to come in (like with Stan).

True.Reports can take a few days to reach the outer world.

[Buck]

I hope this isn't another Mitch or Fifi... or even another Stan. I guess all I can do now is keep praying.

[HURAKAN]

Los primeros reportes de la zona afectada son exactamente lo que esperábamos. La ciudad de Puerto Cabezas fue dañada en un 90%. La torre de un aeropuerto fue destruida y los techos de dos iglesias fueron arrancados donde se refugiaban alrededor de mil personas.

The first reports of the zone of impact are exactly what we expected. The city of Puerto Cabezas was 90% damaged. The tower of an airport was destroyed while the roofs of two churches that was refuge of around 1000 people were blown away.

[Windspeed]

I have a bad feeling that Puerto Cabezas didn't fair as well with Felix as Chetumal did with Dean. Looks like the southern eyewall got very near the northern parts of the town. Looking at early reports, there seems to be a lot of roof damage in Cabezas and reports of debris from tin shrapnel. Downtown Puerto Cabezas probably had sustain winds of at least upper cat 2 intensity with higher gusts. Anxious to hear if the fishing community of Punta Gorda still exists, which lies just north of Puerto Cabezas. They may have actually experienced Cat 5 winds in the nothern eyewall and a extreme surge. Miskito Indians populate that community. I can only hope authorities were able to get them all out. I fear Felix may end up with more "coastal deaths" than Dean. Obviously, Felix has far greater potential for "inland deaths" due to slower movement and high terrain:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2388675.ece

Felix made landfall around dawn at Punta Gorda, 25 miles (40km) north of the Nicaraguan town of Puerto Cabezas, only two weeks after the maximum-strength Hurricane Dean blitzed Mexico, farther up the Caribbean coast.

“The winds are horrible,” Claudio Vanegas, a Red Cross official, said from Puerto Cabezas. “They send roofs flying through the air, so we aren’t going outside because it is too dangerous.”

Before Felix hit land, more than 12,000 people were moved out of the swampy northeastern corner of Nicaragua, populated by Miskito Indians. Another 2,500 - including hundreds of tourists - fled the diving resorts on the Bay Islands off Honduras. After making landfall, the hurricane weakened to Category 2. Telephone lines were cut but distress calls were received from three boats with 49 people aboard, and radio reports said that a Catholic church was destroyed in Puerto Cabezas.

Also....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6979060.stm

According to initial reports, hundreds of Bilwi's [also known as Puerto Cabezas] houses were left destroyed or badly damaged.

"The morning found us in bad shape. This hurricane really hurt us and we don't know how long it will take us to recover," said Reynaldo Francis, governor of Nicaragua's Autonomous Northern Atlantic Region, speaking to a local radio station.

The city's main Catholic church crumbled down, and not even the main government buildings made it in one piece.

Two fishing ships carrying 35 crew members, who waited until the last minute to attempt a return to Bilwi, have gone missing.

"We fear we have lost them," said Governor Francis.

And the fate of the inhabitants of the many small indigenous communities scattered throughout the northern Atlantic region, which is Nicaragua's poorest, is still uncertain.

More than 12,000 people were evacuated just ahead of Felix's landfall, but some refused to leave their houses despite being in the hurricane's expected path.

Edit: corrected death toll (misinterpreted from Hurricane Henriette)

[artist]

from stormcarib.com-


- Missing fishermen
From: Lisa Poliah <lisa at seaviewnet.com>
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:07:02 -0400

AFP reports that authorities had received distress calls from the boats that have gone missing as well as another vessel said to be drifting in the open waters. Military teams await the abatement of the winds before launching search and rescue missions. Until such time 'there is nothing we can do for them now' said the head of the government's disaster response agency.

[Buck]

Add to that one missing person from Venezuela (assuming they were not found) and we have 8 so far... and likely to skyrocket.

[Derek Ortt]

the 7 dead are from Henriette, NOT Felix

[Windspeed]

the 7 dead are from Henriette, NOT Felix

I apologize for associating the dead with the wrong hurricane. I misread last part and thought it was referring to Felix. I will fix the post. Thanks for the heads up, Derek.

Edit: I wasn't disregarding the other hurricane. But hopefully I managed to interpret everything else more accurately. The reports of Felix are certainly troubling that I highlighted in bold.

[Buck]

Oh, that's right. I expect the numbers to come in in larger quantities than 7, unfortunately.

[Hello32020]

Miami Herald: 3 dead, more then 150 missing
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/224930.html

[ConvergenceZone]

I posted this on the aftermath board, but It seems like before Dean and Felix hit all I hear was nothing but horrible devasting results to come, but it seems like after they hit, I hear hardly anything...... Of couRse I haven't been glued to the news channels, but I'm sure had this been the case, it would have made big headlines nonetheless....Were we lucky AGAIN with Felix?? or does the media just not care? or were we hyping it up to be more than it was again??

thoughts?

[artist]

it is bad news it seems - unfortunately we won't hear alot about it here-start reading this thread from this page

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=97600&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=1680

[fasterdisaster]

I posted this on the aftermath board, but It seems like before Dean and Felix hit all I hear was nothing but horrible devasting results to come, but it seems like after they hit, I hear hardly anything...... Of couRse I haven't been glued to the news channels, but I'm sure had this been the case, it would have made big headlines nonetheless....Were we lucky AGAIN with Felix?? or does the media just not care? or were we hyping it up to be more than it was again??

thoughts?

Ummmm...it's been less than 12 hours since the hurricane hit. Full reports are not going to be in that quickly, even in the U.S. that wouldn't happen. But our media hardly cares anyway.

[cycloneye]

http://www-usa.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/ ... s/portada/

Information from Nicaragua is filtering in slowly.But extensive damage and 3 deaths are the first reports from the NE part of the country.Tomorrow we will get for sure more complete reports.

[cycloneye]

http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/

More than 5,000 homes destroyed,the numbers of deaths increases to 4,No power nor water to all the NE part of Nicaragua,Hospital suffered extensive damage,Although no information from that about if any person died there.