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PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua — Helicopters clattered overhead and Miskito Indians paddled canoes through a debris-littered sea Thursday, searching desperately for survivors of Hurricane Felix. At least 64 people were reported dead and scores remained missing.
Fifty-two Nicaraguans were pulled alive from the sea in neighbouring Honduras, and there were reports of bodies floating in the waters, said Carolina Echeverria, a federal lawmaker for the Honduran region.
A Nicaraguan official says at least 24 bodies have been found in Honduras, raising the death toll from Hurricane Felix to at least 64.
The exhausted survivors told rescuers the storm caught them by surprise, flooding the tiny islands used by lobster fishermen off the Nicaraguan coast and forcing them to spend 16 hours clinging to anything that would float in violent waters.
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Many suffered dehydration and were receiving medical care in the seaside town of Villeda Morales, on the Nicaraguan border.
“We believe there are many more in the ocean or on nearby beaches,” Ms. Echeverria said. “People in neighbouring communities ... have seen an undetermined number of cadavers floating in the sea and in the Coco and Segovia rivers.”
Ms. Echeverria said investigations had revised downward initial reports that 150 people had been rescued. Honduran Defence Minister Aristides Mejia said he was sending boats and a military helicopter to the area to help in the rescue operation.
The ocean was filled with debris, preventing a rescue mission from coming ashore in Sandy Bay, where the eye of Felix made landfall Tuesday with catastrophic 255 kph winds and a storm surge estimated at 6 metres above normal tides.
About 150,000 Miskitos — descendants of Indians, European settlers and African slaves — live on island reefs and small jungle hamlets along the Honduran-Nicaraguan border.
The storm developed quickly and Nicaragua posted a hurricane warning less than 24 hours before the storm hit the coast.
From a distance, rescue teams could see fallen palm trees, roofless concrete structures and wooden homes reduced to splinters. Women on the shore wept in anguish. Food and fuel were scarce as emergency aid was airlifted into the regional capital of Puerto Cabezas, a town difficult to reach even in good weather.
The U.S. Southern Command sent the USS Wasp to Nicaragua to help co-ordinate U.S. relief efforts. Venezuela also sent aid and 57 Cuban doctors and nurses already established on the Miskito coast on medical missions were helping as well.
As Felix's remnants drenched Central America, Hurricane Henriette plowed into Mexico for a second time Wednesday, making landfall near the port city of Guaymas with top sustained winds of 120 kph before weakening as it headed inland.
The Hurricane Center said Henriette was dissipating Thursday along far northern Mexico, dumping rain on Arizona and New Mexico.
Nine deaths were reported from the Pacific storm, which hit Baja California on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a clam digger was swept away by high tides and a man fell from his roof while conducting repairs, Mexico's government news agency Notimex reported.
Nicaraguan Civil Defense Department spokesman Alvaro Rivas said at least 40 were killed by Hurricane Felix. More were missing in the Matagalpa province in the north, where rivers overflowed their banks, and around the hard-hit coastal city of Puerto Cabezas.
In Honduras, two deaths were attributed to Felix, and nearly 30,000 people were evacuated, with nearly 10,000 seeking refuge in government shelters.
A 34-year-old man drowned while trying to cross a river in northern Honduras, said Marcos Burgos, head of the national disaster-prevention agency. Channel 7 television reported that a 15-year-old boy died after being buried in mud while repairing underground water pipes on the western edge of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
The national disaster-prevention agency issued warnings that the Ulua and Chamelecon rivers could overflow. The flood alert extended to low-lying areas of the northern industrial city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras' business capital.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Henriette, hundreds of people woke up in shelters, and schools and ports were closed on Mexico's northwestern coast.
Among the drenched coastal communities was San Carlos, a beach town packed with American retirees next to the port city of Guaymas.
“It's deadly — the waves reached up to the boulevard,” said Fatima Reyes, 23. “It blew away roofing, trees and signs.”
Mexican navy Capt. Leopoldo Mendoza said a navy helicopter was searching the Bay of La Paz for a small boat that disappeared Tuesday amid high seas from Henriette. He said two Mexicans and two Japanese nationals were on board.
