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OAS SECRETARY GENERAL EXPRESSES HIS SORROW
FOR THE LOSSES CAUSED BY FELIX AND HENRIETTE

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, expressed his sorrow for the losses caused by hurricanes Felix and Henriette in their path through Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.

Preliminary reports account for four people dead and 5,000 homes destroyed in the vicinity of Puerto Cabezas, in Nicaragua. But, yesterday, Civil Defense Department of Nicaragua spokesman, Álvaro Rivas, said the confirmed death toll had risen to 18, with more than 50 people missing in the Matagalpa province in the north and another ten missing around Puerto Cabezas. On Tuesday, while Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was declaring a state of emergency to direct aid to some 38,000 persons expected to become homeless, the neighboring Honduras was already getting ready for much rainfall expected from the by-then downgraded tropical storm Felix. Officials reported flooding in parts of northern and southern Honduras, where 27,000 people were evacuated. The storm passed near the capital of Tegucigalpa overnight and rain was still falling just before dawn. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Felix could produce as much as 25 inches of rain in some remote areas. Henriette set off mudslides earlier on Tuesday that killed seven people in Acapulco as it moved northward up Mexico’s Pacific coast, before plowing into Mexico for the second time in two days, making landfall last night near the city of Guaymas.

Secretary General Insulza said “Hurricanes Felix and Henriette remind us all of the devastating effects of tropical storms and intense rainfalls. Hurricanes do not threat human lives and their personal properties only with the power of their winds, but much damage is caused by intense rainfalls, when human settlements are located on steep slopes prompt to landslides, and floodplains. We can reduce the devastation caused by these events, by adopting land zoning plans and policies that take into consideration disaster risk.” He added, “We need to continue to work on early warning systems, reaching those most vulnerable with timely forecasts and alerts, and getting all citizens involved from the earliest stages of risk assessment contingency planning.”

According to the US National Hurricane Center, the last time twin Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes were recorded to make landfall on the same day was in 1949. Until yesterday, the closest comparison happened at 5 a.m. on August 24, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Florida 23 hours after Hurricane Lester hit Baja California, Mexico. But on Tuesday, Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast as a record-setting Category 5 storm, and only eight hours later, the eye of Hurricane Henriette struck Baja California, in Mexico.

Reference: E-204/07