National Storm Management Inc (NSMG)

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546847/

Felix takes unpredicted path
Hurricane threatens to become major hurricane over Caribbean islands
The Associated Press

Updated: 8:07 a.m. PT Sept 2, 2007
ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Hurricane Felix strengthened to a Category 2 storm and shifted away from Curacao on Sunday, taking an unpredictable path that left Caribbean islands over a stretch of hundreds of miles fearful of the winds and rain to come.

Felix was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening, becoming the second Atlantic hurricane of the season. By early Sunday, it had sustained maximum winds of about 105 mph and threatened to become a major hurricane as the day went on, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was forecast to pass just north of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where heavy rain was falling on the island of 100,000 people as the center passed north. The island’s airport was closed.

But tiny Bonaire was left relatively unscathed. Islanders were heading to church under mostly blue skies Sunday morning.

Tropical storm watches were issued for Grand Cayman and Jamaica, and a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were in effect for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

At 11 a.m. ET, Felix was centered about 50 miles north of Aruba and was moving northwest at about 18 mph, the hurricane center said.

Tricky to predict direction
Felix was changing directions constantly after nightfall and wobbling, making the storm’s impact hard to predict, Curacao Lt. Gov. Lizanne Richards-Dindial said at a midnight news conference.

“Felix is playing with us,” she said.

Richards-Dindial said any parties on Curacao should end and casinos should close by 2 a.m.: “This is a measure for your own protection,” she said.

On Saturday, Felix brought heavy rains and strong winds to Grenada as a tropical storm, snapping small boats loose from their moorings, temporarily knocking out local radio and TV stations and toppling utility lines. No injuries were reported.

In Aruba, about 20 miles off Venezuela’s coast, a line of jittery residents and hotel employees snaked through a hardware store in the capital, Oranjestad, to purchase supplies.

“This kind of weather doesn’t usually make it to Aruba, so people are definitely worried,” said Mark Werleman, a store cashier.

Felix was on track to skirt Honduras’ northern coastline Tuesday and plow into Belize on Wednesday.

On Honduras’ Roatan Island, home to luxury resorts and pristine reefs, the weather was normal and guests were simply enjoying their vacations, Mayan Princess Beach Resort & Spa employee Arturo Rich said.

“We aren’t evacuating people yet, but maybe on Monday” as the storm gets closer, he said.

Felix ripped roofs off at least two homes and destroyed a popular concert venue in the southern Caribbean island of Grenada. Orchards were left in ruin.

Jess Charles, 29, said he and his family hunkered down in their house in the town of Calliste as the storm’s winds howled outside.

“It was really very, very scary,” Charles told The Associated Press. “The wind was blowing so hard we thought our roof might come off.”

Felix also spawned thunderstorms and downed trees in Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Those islands reported only minor damage.

Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist at the hurricane center, advised employees of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico to monitor Felix’s progress and said the storm could reach the area in four to five days.

Deadly storm Henriette moves out to sea
Along the Pacific coast of Mexico, meanwhile, authorities discontinued storm warnings as Tropical Storm Henriette moved out to sea.

Henriette dumped heavy rain on western Mexico earlier, loosening a giant boulder that smashed into a home in Acapulco, killing an adult and two children and injuring two other people.

A teenager and her two brothers were also killed when a landslide slammed into their house in a poor neighborhood of the resort city.

With maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, the storm was expected to become a hurricane Sunday. But forecasters put it on a path that would not threaten land until Thursday, when it could hit a remote section of the Baja California peninsula.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.