RetireRoatan

Roatan .. Back to Business

As Felix -- now a tropical depression -- weakens over the mountains of Central America, here's a quick check up and review on Roatan.

Over 1000, residents and tourists on Roatan were evacuated ahead of the storm as a precaution. Luckily, Honduras Institute of Tourism spokesman Mario Aguirre tells us that at this point there are no reports of damage on Roatan: "We're watching for flooding to the south [on mainland Honduras], but so far there are no damages to the northern coastal areas either. Check out some photos during the hurricane below . . .

9/4/07 - The View Restaurant on Roatan -- 3:15 PM


9/5/07 - 12:15 PM -- (great waves, clear skies, slight 10 mph wind)
courtesy of Roatan Gardener (Wundeground Blog)

One cruise itinerary that included Roatan was affected by the storm. Carnival Legend, which set sail on September 2 from Tampa, is making calls in Key West, Grand Turk and Ocho Rios instead of Cozumel, Belize and Roatan.

Indeed, continuing heavy rain could cause the same floods and mudslides that plagued Central America in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch.

Felix to Category 2, Over Honduras Mountains

Roatan has dodged a big one so far, the prediction path for Felix is now moving through Honduras and its mountain ranges, which could produce massive amounts of flooding and mudslides. Even at Category 2, Roatan is experiencing waves and very slight winds. More to be posted later as Felix moves through.

Felix Cat 5, Makes Honduras Landfall, South of Roatan

In a dramatic fashion last night Felix steered south some and might prevent a direct hit on Roatan . .

-SEE LATEST VIDEO
-SEE REAL TIME SATELLITE LOOP

8:00AM - Tuesday Morning 9/4/07
LA CEIBA, Honduras - Hurricane Felix roared ashore early Tuesday as a fearsome Category 5 storm — the first time in recorded history that two top-scale storms have come ashore in the same season. The storm hit near the swampy Nicaragua-Honduras border, home to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians dependent on canoes to make their way to safety.

"The wind is terrible. There's a roaring when it pulls the roofs off the houses," Lumberto Campbell, a local official in Puerto Cabezas, told Radio Ya. "There's no electricity because all the posts that hold up the cables have fallen down.

"The metal roofs come off like shaving knives and are sent flying against the trees and homes," he said before the line cut off.

Twenty fishermen were missing, and communication to the area was cut off.

Hurricane Felix On It's Way to Roatan

This is only the fourth year since 1886 that more than one Category 5 hurricane was recorded in an Atlantic season, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Only 31 Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic since 1886, and eight of them have formed in the last five seasons.

Felix is currently on a fierce course to Honduras and thus Roatan . .

SEE THE VIDEO FORECAST

Felix was headed west with 145 mph winds, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, which warned the “extremely dangerous” storm could strengthen before it reaches the Honduran coast on Tuesday and then slams into Belize, where many residents were still cleaning up from last month’s Hurricane Dean.

“We are ready to face an eventual tragedy,” said Douglas Fajardo, fire chief on the Caribbean resort island of Roatan.

Some 300 tourists were evacuated from Honduras’ islands by midday Monday, and 400 others were awaiting flights, said Armando Funez, a spokesman for the country’s National Airline Association. Winds and surf were picking up, with some waves crashing 15 feet higher than normal.

“The tourists, they’re evacuating. We’re staying here,” said Estella Marazzito, who works at a Roatan real estate company. “At this moment, it’s what they call the calm before the storm. There isn’t even a breeze,” she said, but added, “We know it’s a tremendous hurricane that’s coming.”

Roatan Safe . . Dean moving towards Cancun

Our prayers are with all as they fight this monster ripping up the Caribbean. Roatan has very calm waters and a superior climate currently. Come see us soon . . .

From MSNBC - Aug 20, 2007
Locals boarded up while frantic vacationers lined up at ticket counters in Cancun, rushing to leave Monday ahead of Hurricane Dean, which has left a deadly trail of destruction across the Caribbean.

Some 36,000 foreigners were still trying to get flights out Monday morning, NBC's Kerry Sanders reported from the Cancun area. Officials said Monday they were evacuating that area and had arranged for extra flights before Dean's arrival.

The latest computer tracking models forecast hurricane could spare the U.S. Gulf Coast but slam into the Yucatan, cross the Bay of Campeche and then hit central Mexico. In Cancun, Mexico, travelers slept on floors at the resort’s international airport, hoping for one of the last flights out Monday before Dean was expected to slam into the Yucatan peninsula.

Dean Category 4 Possibly 5 -- Heading for Jamaica

It's in the Caribbean and heading right at Jamaica, not near Roatan. Roatan sits mostly outside the zone known for Hurricanes. See below . .

Click here for a GREAT hurricane tracker
[play with the different years and notice how hurricanes travel in the Caribbean and upswing past Roatan!]

VIEW VIDEO

Hurricane Dean gathering strength
Aug. 18: Gary Archibald of NBCWeatherplus.com reports that it now appears Hurricane Dean may make landfall in Texas, after crossing the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

MSNBC . .
August 18th 2:30PM PST from MSNBC.com
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Alarmed tourists jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean’s path Saturday as the monster storm began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti and threatened to engulf Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Tropical Dean Now Category 3 Hurricane . . Update

It's in the Caribbean and tearing through some of it's islands, but not Roatan. Roatan sits mostly outside the zone known for Hurricanes. "They always go north of us.  We'll get some rain and wind only....but I doubt VERY much that it will hit us.  It's already almost at 16 degrees. We sit at 16.2 so it would have to come directly WEST to hit us and it's going West NW. We're not worried here at all." - TJ Lynch, 10+ years now on the island, knows his weather.

Click here for a GREAT hurricane tracker
[play with the different years and notice how hurricanes travel in the Caribbean and upswing past Roatan!]

August 17th 1:00PM PST from MSNBC.com
CASTRIES, St. Lucia - Hurricane Dean strengthened into a Category 3 storm and tore through the eastern Caribbean on Friday, ripping the roofs from a hospital and homes, and flooding buildings with rain and seawater. A 62-year-old man drowned — the storm’s first death.

With 125 mph winds, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season was expected to gain power over the warm waters of the Caribbean, hit Jamaica on Sunday and climb to Category 4 status before clipping Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It was projected to steer into the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday, threatening the U.S.-Mexico border area.