Report from Roatan: So far, no wind and no rain. At this time, with the current reports, they aren't expecting much. They all just need to get some sleep now. Most of them have been up for the past two days watching the storm and preparing.
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) - Hurricane Felix strengthened into a Category 5 monster storm early Tuesday, forecasters said, just as it prepared to make landfall near the Nicaragua-Honduras border, home to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians.
In the hours before Felix - which the National Hurricane Center said reached Category 5 - was to make landfall early Tuesday, Grupo Taca Airlines frantically airlifted tourists from the Honduran island of Roatan, popular for its pristine reefs and diving resorts.
About 1,000 people were taken off the island, including 19 Americans evacuated by a U.S. Chinook helicopter sent from the Soto Cano Air Base on mainland Honduras. Another 1,000 people were removed from low-lying coastal areas and smaller islands
We awoke this morning breathing a sigh of relief. Looks like Felix is going well south of us here in Roatàn. Just about the time we were getting ready to remove some of the plywood making our house feel like a tomb we saw the Galaxy Wave, a 160 foot long passenger ferry, coming into Calabash Bight for shelter.
Thinking that they may know something we don't we are electing to keep our house boarded up at this time. After all, "Better safe than soggy".
At this point, however; it looks to me like we are well above any effects of the storm.
Have been keeping a close watch on the Radar . . . just a bit ago it looked like a pretty hefty band was about to go over the island. don't know how strong it was, though.
some of those outer bands can be pretty strong.. . .
Weather data from the Roatan airport was last updated 48 minutes ago. Don't know if is is just an hourly report or if they are off line.
We are thrilled & delighted to report, that Monster Felix has passed Roatan by. I am sure that the many, many prayers and positive thoughts emailed to us from everywhere, helped us all immensely.
ABC News in New York City has been calling and I am so happy I have nothing to report. I am very worried and feel terrible about all the people who fled Roatan for the safety of the mainland. Hopefully your prayers will keep them safe as well.
Early this quiet morning, the ocean was flat and a silvery blue gray, like the finest floor slate ever made. The sky looked like a water soaked ceiling about to cave in. The first hint of a storm came calling, angry thunderheads bumping and grumbling, a few rain drops, but that is all.
We still double checked the yard and locked the outside faucet to prevent water theft in the aftermath, should we still get a surprise storm. The house nearest me has just started to board up. My friend Alex is right, "better safe than soggy," but why board up now? Do they know something the rest of us don't?
We decided to stay home, so the jewelry store is completely boarded up. Penelope's is open 7 days a week, so this is our first day off ever... some "day off." We had loaded everything into our van, so now we get to unpack, but I am not complaining a bit!
The hurricane reports are so confusing and contradictory, but this is the information I just gathered: Felix hit the Nicaragua Honduras border at 8 am, Category 5, 160 mph winds with stronger gusts, 18 foot storm surge. It hit the Misquito Coast, sparsely populated with Indian fishermen. It appears there was no way to evacuate them. There will be mudslides and flooding.
Felix is now moving west, over land at 120 mph, now a Category 3. All tracking maps show Roatan and the Bay Islands being missed completely. This hurricane season is the first time in recorded history to have 2 Category 5's in the same year in the Atlantic Basin. Here on Roatan it is 86 degrees, 74% humidity, with winds from the North at 13 mph. It seems much more uncomfortable and hot in a dark, boarded up house.
We had been planning our First Anniversary Birthday Party of our jewelry store, Penelope's Island Emporium on Saturday. I think we will change it to a "Stayin Alive" Party, serving "Karat" cake & Hurricanes. I wish everyone who emailed me, sending prayers, good thoughts & lots of tracking information could attend.
Hopefully, there will be nothing further to report. I have to start unpacking now, I can't find a thing. Hurricane Correspondent,
Penny Leigh
Sand Castles Interior Design www.roatan-sandcastles.com
Penelope's Island Emporium, West Bay Beach www.penelopesislandemporium.com
3-391-1490
011-504-445-5039
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
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Everything has been calm, cloudy today, expect shower this afternoon. No big thing happened here at all, just a lot of paniced people. I stayed alone and slept good.
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