Beta Pounds Central America

Hurricane Beta lashed Central America's Caribbean coast early Sunday, pounding the mainland with heavy rains and high winds as thousands of Nicaraguans sought shelter in boarded-up homes or government shelters.

As the storm hit land near the remote town of La Barra, it weakened to a category two hurricane with 105 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was expected to sweep across Nicaragua, dumping up to 15 inches of rain.

While powerful, Beta was a small hurricane, with hurricane force winds extending outward up to 15 miles, the center said.

Before edging westward toward Central America, a slow-moving Beta, the record 13th hurricane of this year's Atlantic storm season, lashed the Colombian island of Providencia with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf.

Several people were injured during the hurricane, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Saturday, though he did not provide an exact figure or give the extent of the injuries. No deaths were reported.

Roofs were ripped off of dozens of wooden homes, the island's main communications tower was knocked over and a tourist foot bridge was torn apart. But most of the 5,000 islanders stayed safe by climbing Providencia's many hills to hunker down in brick shelters.

In Nicaragua, President Enrique Bolanos declared a maximum "red alert" late Saturday, ordering everyone to stay inside, and said that some 45,000 people from the port regions were either secured in their homes or holed up in 15 shelters provided by the government.

Earlier in the day, army troops evacuated 10,000 people from the far eastern coastal port of Cabo de Gracias a Dios, and from along the River Coco, both on the Honduras border, said Nicaragua's national civil defense director, Lt. Col. Mario Perez Cassar.

The Civil Defense Department sent 100 army rescue specialists along with various land and water vehicles. A tent hospital also was set up, while universities and public schools were closed and converted into shelters. Flights to the Nicaraguan islands Islas del Maiz were canceled.

Residents of low-lying neighborhoods in Puerto Cabeza also were taken to provisional shelters on higher ground as heavy rains and wind began to batter the coast, flooding some low-lying neighborhoods. Businesses raised food prices in response to the heavy demand, while bottled water supplies ran out. Authorities threatened to sanction the price gougers.

Mayor Gustavo Ramos said 10 people were reported missing after their boat disappeared in the storm, trying to escape the storm.

In Honduras, President Ricardo Maduro declared a maximum state of alert and authorities evacuated more than 50 people due to flooding in a coastal city also known as Gracias a Dios, on the border with Nicaragua. However, the storm was expected to head west, avoiding Honduras.

This Atlantic hurricane season has seen 23 named storms, more than at any point since record-keeping began in 1851.

Early this month, Hurricane Stan hit southern Mexico at Category 1 strength on Oct. 4, caused flooding and mudslides that killed 71 people in the southern state of Chiapas and left 654 dead and 828 missing in neighboring Guatemala. Another 71 died in El Salvador.

Hurricane Wilma, which reached category 5 strength and was still a category 4 storm when it made landfall, killed four people in Mexico, 12 in Haiti, one in Jamaica and was blamed for 14 deaths in Florida.

Late last week, Wilma battered Mexico's famous tourist-oriented Caribbean coastline, including the resort city of Cancun, and its offshore islands. It was estimated by Mexican insurance companies to be the country's most costly disaster ever, with payments topping the $1.2 billion the industry paid out after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.