Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Central America storm weakens

Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Hurricane Adrian fizzled over Honduras on Friday after slamming into El Salvador’s coast and forcing the evacuation of 23,000 people, officials said.

Schools were closed across the Central American nation as a precaution and many public employees were on a half-day work schedule.

The hurricane, first of the eastern Pacific season, caused relatively little damage and no reported deaths in Honduras.

It struck west of El Salvador’s capital overnight with maximum sustained winds of almost 75 mph, where at least two people were reported killed.

A civil defense official in Nicaragua said at least one person drowned Thursday night during flooding in that country’s capital, about 240 miles from the storm’s center.

Officials in Guatemala and Nicaragua reported some small-scale evacuations and flooding.

Salvadoran President Tony Saca told local media that officials were evaluating the damage.

Saca said many activities were returning to normal after widespread concern caused by the first hurricane on record to directly hit El Salvador.

Saca said that most of those in El Salvador had returned home.

The Salvadoran-based airline TACA also had resumed service, transportation officials reported.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch rolled across the region from the Caribbean side and killed at least 9,000 people.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush warned residents Wednesday to be prepared for a storm season that could be as active as the devastating 2004 stretch that brought four hurricanes ashore in Florida.

Bush, speaking at the annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference, said those who don’t prepare and don’t evacuate when they’re told put the lives of law enforcement and emergency workers in danger.