Strengthened Hurricane Smashes In

Hurricane Felix has smashed into the Central American coast after gaining strength and being re-listed as a Category 5 - potentially the most destructive.

The ferocious storm has made landfall on the northeast coast of Nicaragua.

The village of Puerto Cabezas was one of the first hit with buildings smashed and trees uprooted.

"The metal roofs come off like shaving knives and are sent flying against the trees and homes," local official Lumberto Campbell said before the line went dead.

Tens of thousands of people on the Honduras-Nicaragua border are waiting in shelters as the storm approaches.

Thousands of Miskito Indians have been cut off, however, after they refused to leave their low-lying tribal lands in time to get to the shelters.

Twenty fishermen have been lost at sea, local news reported.

The 160mph hurricane is following the same path as 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed 11,000 people.

Felix was downgraded from 5 to 4 on Monday but is packing stronger winds and has been recategorised by the US Meteorological Service

Off Mexico's Pacific coast, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Henriette strengthened into a hurricane with 75mph winds and is ploughing its way towards the upmarket resort of Cabo San Lucas.

The storm has already claimed six lives in Acapulco.

In Honduras, 40,000 people fled to shelters but another 15,000 people could not find transport and will have to wait out Hurricane Felix in their homes.

They are in the direct path of the storm.

"They couldn't be evacuated because there is no fuel to take them to safe areas," said Carolina Echeverria, a local government official.

Hundreds of tourists were flown to the Honduran mainland from beach and diving resorts on the Bay Islands, and police reported long lines at supermarkets and gas stations in coastal cities as residents stocked up on food, water and fuel.

A storm surge of up to 18 feet was expected.

Felix, the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic season, is in the same category as Hurricane Dean, which killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico in August.

Hurricane Gathers Strength 03/09/07

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