Managua, Nicaragua – Hurricane Beta swirled onto Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast Sunday, ripping off roofs, toppling trees and flooding low neighborhoods before weakening to a tropical storm. Heavy rain in Honduras caused four rivers to overflow and damaged farm crops.
No deaths or injuries were immediately reported, but officials said about 10 people were believed missing after trying to escape the storm by boat near Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.
Beta came ashore near the remote town of Sandy Bay Sirpi, 200 miles northeast of Managua, as a Category 2 hurricane with 105-mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
By midafternoon, it had weakened to a tropical storm with 65- mph winds as it moved inland, dumping up to 15 inches of rain. Beta was expected to continue losing strength and weaken to a tropical depression overnight.
While powerful, Beta was a small storm, with its initial hurricane-force winds extending outward only about 15 miles, the hurricane center said.
Forecasters had predicted Saturday that the storm would hit the far northeastern region of Nicaragua, prompting officials to evacuate thousands of people from the port of Cabo de Gracias a Dios and along the River Coco, both on the Honduras border.
But early Sunday, the record 13th hurricane of this year’s Atlantic storm season took an unexpected turn south and headed for Nicaragua’s central coast.
Jack Howard, mayor of the central coastal town of Laguna de Perlas, told local television that 700 people were trapped in Tasbapauni, a town separated from the mainland by a lagoon.
Nicaragua’s army chief, Gen. Omar Halleslevens, told reporters in the capital that Beta had destroyed or damaged some houses, ripped off building roofs, knocked down trees and caused some flooding. He said it also damaged at least one pier.
In Honduras, authorities evacuated more than 7,800 people Sunday from 50 communities north of the Nicaraguan border after four rivers overflowed from 4 inches of rain.
The Honduran government set up shelters at schools and state buildings, while the national soccer league suspended games. Coastal airports at La Ceiba and Roatan were operating sporadically because of poor visibility, high winds and flooding.
President Ricardo Maduro said he had requested the help of helicopters at the U.S. air base at Palmerola, 30 miles north of the capital, to ferry supplies to flooded areas. He said the government had begun distributing about 2,000 tons of food donated by the United Nations.
