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Ida storms ashore, weakens over Central America

Friday, November 06, 2009

Staff, wire reports

Hurricane Ida ripped into Nicaragua's Atlantic coast Thursday, destroying homes, damaging schools and downing bridges before losing steam and becoming a tropical depression.

Projections from the National Hurricane Center in Miami were calling for Ida to be in the central Gulf of Mexico by midday Tuesday, but it was unclear what shape the system may be in by then.

By 9 p.m. CST, Ida was no longer a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph and additional weakening expected through the night, forecasters said. It was moving to the north-northwest near 5 mph.

But at about sunrise Thursday, Ida, clocking 75 mph winds, struck land in Tasbapauni, Nicaragua, about 60 miles northeast of Bluefields, said meteorologist Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center.

About 80 percent of homes were destroyed in nearby Karawala, a fishing village of about 100 flimsy, wooden shacks near the mouth of the Rio Grande de Matagalpa, according to Nicaragua's National Civil Defense director, Mario Perez.

"There was major damage in the region's infrastructure, such as fallen bridges, damaged schools and government buildings, and electrical transmission towers and telephone service were knocked out," Perez said.

No deaths or injuries had been reported, but Perez said officials were still trying to get information from the region.

Forecasters said it was unclear whether Ida will survive its interaction with the high terrain of Central America. If it does, the system could regain tropical storm strength after re-emerging over the Caribbean Sea on Saturday.

Because it was unclear whether Ida will survive its passage over Central American, there was still a great amount of uncertainty in the long-range forecast, according to a discussion issued by the National Hurricane Center.

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