Historic first as two topmost hurricanes land in same year
Pastor Dale Morgan
Historic first as two topmost hurricanes land in same year*
MIAMI, Sept 4 (AFP) Sep 04, 2007
For the first time on record, two Atlantic hurricanes have made landfall
at category five in the same year as Hurricane Felix slammed ashore
Tuesday at the topmost intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according
to data from the US National Hurricane Center.
The powerful storm roared ashore in northeastern Nicaragua with maximum
sustained winds of 260 kilometers (160 miles) per hour, and higher
gusts, before weakening to a category three hurricane, said the
Miami-based NHC.
Its landfall marked the first time two hurricanes hit land at the
topmost category in the same year since a storm was first reliably
recorded at that intensity in 1928.
Dean, this year's first hurricane, hit Mexico's Caribbean coast at
category five on August 21. Its rampage through the Caribbean and Mexico
left 30 people dead.
Hurricane Felix had reached category five on Sunday, when it
strengthened from a category two in a record 15 hours, according to the
NHC. It dropped to category four on Monday but regained strength just
before landfall.
Only 30 previous Atlantic hurricanes are reliably known to have reached
category five, starting with a 1928 storm nicknamed Okeechobee that left
a trail of death and devastation in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico,
the Bahamas and Florida.
Among the storms to reach category five was Hurricane Mitch, which in
1998 devastated the same area now battered by Felix.
While Mitch made landfall as a category one hurricane, its slow motion
meant it dropped massive amounts of rain over Honduras and Nicaragua,
causing catastrophic flooding and becoming one of the deadliest
hurricanes in history, with more than 9,000 people dead and as many
reported missing.
In 2005, a record four Atlantic hurricanes reached category five,
including Hurricane Katrina that left 1,500 people dead in New Orleans
and along the US Gulf coast. Katrina made landfall as a category three
hurricane, with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (125 miles) per hour.
A category five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale packs maximum
sustained winds of over 249 kilometers (155 miles) per hour. The NHC
calls such hurricanes "potentially catastrophic."