this is a very serious storm, please no jokes!

I guess it's not serious enough for capital letters?

I read this yesterday about these poor indigenous people -- the Meskitos -- who are literally being left to fend for themselves but with no way out of there. How come we couldn't have sent in our Navy or some sort of ship to get thousands of them out at least until the storm is over? God knows our country could use some positive humanitarian publicity for a change.

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) - Tourists fled island resorts by plane or helicopter as powerful Hurricane Felix neared Honduras and Nicaragua, threatening to devastate a swampy coastline home to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians.

In the hours before the Category 4 storm 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.

Bob Shearer, 54, from Butler, Pa., said he was disappointed his family's scuba diving trip to Roatan was cut short by the evacuation order. "I only got seven dives in. I hope they didn't jump the gun too soon," he said as he waited for a flight home in the San Pedro Sula airport.

Felix's top winds were at 150 mph as it headed west early Tuesday, and forecasters warned it could strengthen again before landfall along the Miskito Coast. From there, it was projected to rake northern Honduras, slam into southern Belize on Wednesday and then cut across northern Guatemala and southern Mexico, well south of Texas.

Its massive storm surge could devastate Indian communities along the Miskito Coast, an isolated region straddling the Honduras-Nicaragua border where Miskito Indians live in wooden shacks, get around on canoes and subsist on fish, beans, rice, cassava and plantains. Thousands were stranded along the coast late Monday.

The only path to safety is up rivers and across lakes that are too shallow for regular boats, but many lack gasoline for long journeys. Provincial health official Efrain Burgos estimated that 18,000 people must find their own way to higher ground.

The storm was following the same path as 1998's Hurricane Mitch, a sluggish storm that stalled for a week over Central America, killing nearly 11,000 people and leaving more than 8,000 missing, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua.

correction it's "Miskito" not "Miskioto" in last sentence

Great idea Chris, we could fly them across the Mexican border and give them a place to live here. Be careful what you wish for.

Great idea Chris, we could fly them across the Mexican border and give them a place to live here. Be careful what you wish for.

Well, we've already got 30,000,000 here so what's another 18,000.

I wish it were possible to help the Miskito indians but I would hope that in their cultural background they have been handed down knowledge of how to survive this kind of storm. If they don't have some knowledge of how to survive then how have they lasted this long? The only thing I can think of would be to tie yourself to a coconut tree, but I hope they know what to do.

I heard there was dozens of dollars worth of damage...

and there goes the gas prices.........

First time for two CAT 5 Atlantic storms in the same year since records have been kept (Dean & Felix). First time two hurricanes made landfall on the North American continent on the same day since records have been kept (Henriette & Felix).
And it's just September 5.

ZAT

I tried to listen the other day (when Felix hit a cat 5) to your Maritime ham radio station figuring someone would be on due to the hurricane ramping up but, as usual, could pull in nothing but background ham radio static -- no talking. I figure I'm just out of reach -- or else these California foothills I live at the bottom of block the transmission. Oh, your "CATS" shirt was a nice touch. Max - rest in peace.

And it's just September 5.

weather wise -- get ready to rock and roll

Finally something that will make Bush look good.

Felix the Cat5 sets a record by being the first time an Atlantic Cat 5 has hit land twice in the same season?

We haff a new total!

And it's just September 5.

Ah... Zat, ever the optimist, aint cha?

Do we haff a death toll yet?

Be Well.

PS: New kitty?

S'cool.

More reclusive?

Spud can relate.

Peace to Max.

Be Well.

"Do we haff a death toll yet?"

I doubt we ever will.

"Ah... Zat, ever the optimist, aint cha?"

You bet.
Sooner or later: Niceville's gonna get it.