/ 3 September 2007

Hurricane Felix becomes rare top-ranked storm

Hurricane Felix became an extremely dangerous category-five storm on Sunday as it swept through the southern Caribbean on a path toward Central America and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, United States forecasters said.

On a similar — though more southerly — track to that of last month’s powerful Hurricane Dean, which killed 27 people, Felix’s top sustained winds were at 270km/h at 12pm GMT, the United States National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.

That made the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic storm season, about 550km south-east of Jamaica’s capital Kingston, to become a category-five storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, capable of causing catastrophic damage.

A hurricane watch, meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours, was posted from Limon, Honduras, to the Honduran border with Nicaragua. Forecasters said hurricane conditions also were possible in extreme north-eastern Nicaragua.

Forecasters at the hurricane centre said Felix had strengthened at one of the fastest rates ever seen, as measured by the drop in its minimum internal pressure, as it passed over the warm waters of the Caribbean.

They said they did not detect major factors to cause any appreciable weakening before it interacts with the land mass of Central America, and that it had not yet passed over very warm waters of the western Caribbean. Warm water fuels hurricanes.

Hurricane Dean became a category-five storm in mid-August before slamming into the Yucatan.

US Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas producers, who account for about a third of the United States’ crude production and 15% of its natural gas production, were monitoring Felix, but had not yet evacuated offshore workers because its forecast track did not appear to threaten them.

Category-five hurricanes have been rare in the Atlantic. Before the devastating 2005 hurricane season, only two years on record had seen more than one category-five storm.

The 2005 season had four, including Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, and Wilma, the strongest Atlantic storm ever seen. The increase in the number of top-ranked hurricanes has provided backing to research showing global warming may produce stronger tropical cyclones.

Storm watches

Despite its rapid strengthening, Felix was too far away to prove much of a threat to the Netherlands Antilles.

Dawn had broken on Curaçao to reveal toppled trees and flooded streets but neither it nor its sister island Bonaire reported serious damage or casualties.

”The local population and visitors remained in their homes and hotels overnight. No calls were received on the emergency line set up in preparation for the storm,” Bonaire Lieutenant Governor Herbert Domacasse said in a statement.

In Curaçao, unused to hurricanes because the storms normally track well to the north, supermarkets remained open late to allow residents to stock up on supplies. Authorities opened shelters and the airport closed for several hours.

Hurricane watches in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao were lifted but tropical storm watches remained for Jamaica and Grand Cayman, although Felix was expected to keep well south as it moved west-northwest near 33km/h. It was expected to keep moving west to west-northwest through Monday.

Felix was expected to produce up to 10cm over the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia.

The 2007 hurricane season, expected to be busy, is reaching its peak. Most storms come between August 20 and mid-October, with September 10 marking the statistical height of the season. – Reuters