LA CIEBA, Honduras (CNN) -- Felix weakened to a Category 4 hurricane Monday, but remained powerful as it barreled toward Central America where it's expected hit along the Nicaragua-Honduras border early Tuesday.

Felix is expected to impact prime Honduran real estate along the coast when it makes landfall. The region is home to hotels and expensive vacation homes. Across the border in Nicaragua, the coastal region is sparsely populated.

Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning from Puerto Cabezas north to its border with Honduras, and a hurricane warning remains in effect in Honduras from the border west to Limon.

A warning means that hurricane conditions -- including sustained winds of 74 mph or higher -- are expected within 24 hours.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center have said both countries could receive 5 to 8 inches of rain, with isolated amounts of up to a foot of rain possible. Felix could also bring storm surge flooding of more than 18 feet above normal tide levels.

"These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the hurricane center warned.

In Honduras, residents were recalling Hurricane Mitch which triggered landslides that swallowed villages and killed thousands in Central America in 1998.

Honduras' bay islands were being evacuated, and the airport in La Ceiba remained open as flights continued to leave Monday night, CNN's Susan Candiotti reported.

The Honduran government issued bulletins to residents urging them to be prepared, she said, but shelters were not opening until after the storm had passed, as residents preferred to stay in their homes during the storm and seek shelter afterwards.

The U.S. military's Southern Command, based in Miami, Florida, said it evacuated 19 U.S. citizens from the Honduran island of Roatan, taking them by helicopter to La Cieba, Honduras.

As of the NHC's 11 p.m. ET update, Felix's winds were 135 mph (215 km/h). The storm's center was about 145 miles (235 km) east of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border.

The CNN weather center noted that Felix has a "small wind field," meaning that hurricane force winds extend only about 30 miles out from its center and tropical storm force winds out to 115 miles.

"It's a compact storm, so it's kind of small, but certainly packing a punch," CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said.

After moving inland through Honduras, Felix is forecast to hit the coast of Belize as a Category 1 storm. Godfrey Smith, Belize's tourism minister, said the government is poised to order evacuations Tuesday morning. A state of emergency has been put into effect, he said, giving the government the power to make evacuations mandatory.

Another worry for Belize concerns crops grown in the southern half of the country, expected to be in Felix's path. That portion of Belize is known as the banana and citrus belt, he said. Tropical Storm Chantal devastated the banana fields in 2001, he said. "There's very little you can do to protect crops like banana."

In the northern half of the country, where more tourism is seen, residents and hotels were told to "shutter up, batten down and get ready," he said.

Monday afternoon, skies were overcast over Belize City, with some wind and sporadic rain, he said.

Fast-moving Felix brushed just north of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao -- the "ABC" islands which sit just north of Venezuela -- on Sunday as a Category 2 storm, with top winds around 100 mph.

The storm flooded parts of Aruba, but the island escaped major damage.

"It's a good thing that Felix was moving so quickly because that kept the rain totals down a little bit," Jeras said. "It could have been a much, much worse situation."

American Jeffrey Nolen, his daughter and her friend -- both high school seniors -- found themselves rescuing a couple and their dog whose vehicle got stuck in floodwater in the northern part of Aruba.

Nolen, his daughter Gracie, and her friend Valentine were able to get through the floodwater in a "well-prepared Land Rover" but the other people were not so lucky, he told CNN.

"When we went through it, the water was over the hood -- over 4 feet of water," he said. "We turned around and said, 'They didn't make it,' and said, 'What can we do?'"

The water came all the way over the tires of the couple's two-seat open-top vehicle. A photo showed a small dog resting on the hood of the submerged vehicle.

"Gracie just received her rescue diver certification so she had to put this in practice," Nolen said. "We found a way back through there and hooked up the straps and (were) able to get the vehicle back out of there.

Nolen said "the little dog was just yapping" during the entire rescue.

"We were very fortunate that nobody was hurt and that we were able to get everybody out," he said. "And I'm so proud of the kids -- Gracie and Valentine did a great job."

Meanwhile, the Colombian government Monday afternoon issued a tropical storm warning for Isla de Providencia. Tropical storm conditions, including sustained winds of more than 39 mph, were forecast there Monday night, the NHC said.

The storm is the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1.

Two weeks ago, Hurricane Dean delivered a one-two punch to Mexico, slamming into the Yucatan peninsula as a Category 5 storm, then walloping central Mexico as a Category 2 storm.

Before hitting Mexico, Dean was blamed for at least nine deaths during its march across the Caribbean.

 

CNN - 4 Sept 2007