Napisano
20.06.2006 - 19:17
15-foot Waves Destroy Homes in Nicaragua
Associated Press
2006-06-20
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Big waves generated by a storm 2,000 miles away battered Central America's Pacific Coast on Tuesday, wrecking at least 20 houses in Nicaragua and a small hotel in Guatemala, civil defense officials said. There were no reports of fatalities.
Authorities ordered 200 people evacuated in Nicaragua as reports of high tides came in from Mexico and several Central American countries.
Officials said the event was not a tsunami.
Huge Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the waves were caused by a powerful South Pacific storm that was sending swells up to 12-feet high across the ocean, hitting beaches from Ecuador's Galapagos Islands to the Mexican resort of Acapulco.
Beaches were closed as far south as northern Chile, but no damage was reported.
Central America was the hardest hit Tuesday, but Cobb said the worst was over and the waves should began to subside.
"They should start coming down over the next several days," he said. "We expect them to gradually subside over the next 24 to 48 hours."
On Guatemala's western shore, waves of up to 13 feet high caused severe damage to a small hotel frequented by surfers in Sipacate, 60 miles southeast of Guatemala City, employees said.
"The sea took away eight rooms and part of the restaurant, which was made of wood," said Brigido de Paz, the manager. "The kitchen and the rooms that were made of concrete are flooded and damaged."
In Nicaragua, 15-foot waves carried water up to 100 yards inland and destroyed about 20 small homes in Puerto Corinto, civil defense official William Rodriguez said.
The government sent 75 Nicaraguan soldiers, firefighters and rescue workers to help with the evacuations.