Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua's Miskito Coast as a record-setting Category 5 monster storm yesterday, whipping metal rooftops through the air like razors and forcing thousands to flee.

Hurricane Felix slammed into Honduras.

"The winds are horrible," Red Cross official Claudio Vanegas said by phone from the Nicaraguan town of Puerto Cabezas shortly after Felix struck land nearby with winds of 260 kph. "They send roofs flying through the air, so we aren't going outside because it is too dangerous."

Meanwhile, off Mexico's Pacific coast, Hurricane Henriette gained force as it bore down on upscale Cabo San Lucas, a resort popular with Hollywood stars and sports fishermen. The US National Hurricane Center said it had winds of 140 kph and that the center would likely hit land yesterday afternoon.

Early yesterday, carloads of curious spectators passed by the Cabo San Lucas marina, where waves crashed into rock barriers, sending plumes of white water 10 meters into the air. Catamarans crashed against their moorings, and officials were lashing docks together to try to keep them from washing out to sea. Palm trees bent over in the wind.

Felix landed around dawn at Punta Gorda, 40 kilometers north of Puerto Cabezas, only two weeks after Hurricane Dean struck Mexico, further up the Caribbean coast.

Never before in recorded hurricane history have two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes made landfall in the same year. Only 31 Category 5 storms have been seen in the Atlantic since record-keeping began in 1886, including eight in the last five seasons.

As it roared inland, Felix's winds weakened to a 195 kph and it was about 65 kilometers west of Puerto Cabezas by 11 AM EDT (15:00 GMT). It was expected to weaken further as it marches inland at 24 kph.

"The major concern now shifts to the threat of torrential rains over the mountains of Central America. Isolated maximum totals of 65 centimeters are possible. Persons living in flood-prone areas should take all precautions to protect life and property," said senior hurricane specialist Richard Pasch at the Hurricane Center in Miami.

Henriette claimed seven lives even before it strengthened into a hurricane. One woman drowned in high surf in Cabo San Lucas on Monday, and the storm caused flooding and landslides that killed six people in Acapulco.

At 11 AM EDT (15:00 GMT) Henriette was centered 95 kilometers south-southeast of the Baja California peninsula and it was strengthening. Strong winds were already pounding the beaches and rain fell in sheets. More than 100 residents spent the night in shelters.

In Nicaragua's remote northeast corner, more than 12,000 people were evacuated just ahead of Felix's landfall, including from a local hospital, but some refused to leave vulnerable coastal communities, and distress calls were received from three boats with a total of 49 people on board, civil defense official Rogelio Flores said.

In neighboring Honduras, 2,500 people were evacuated from the Bay Islands ahead of the storm, including hundreds of tourists.

Phones and power were out in much of the Miskito Coast, making it difficult to find out what was happening in the remote, swampy area where many people get around on canoes. Radio reports said a Catholic church in Puerto Cabezas was destroyed by winds.

Rogelio Perez, a local emergency official, said the army was preparing to fly over the area and assess damage. However, emergency officials said they had no immediate reports of victims, and that most people in low-lying areas had been moved to shelters on higher ground.

(China Daily via agencies September 5, 2007)