4 Dead as Felix Slams Nicaragua

Nicaragua’s Miskito coast felt the wrath of Hurricane Felix yesterday, raising fears of catastrophe for the desperately poor swamp region. The rare Category 5 storm killed four before losing steam and switching to a Category 1 as it made its way toward Guatemala and Mexico, the Guardian reports. Regional officials described one town as “totally destroyed.”

Felix will likely dump the bulk of its water over Nicaragua, but the storm may still lay waste to Guatemalan communities, where mudslides could destroy shantytowns. Similar landslides set off by Hurricane Henriette killed six yesterday on Mexico’s Baja peninsula, marking the first time hurricanes have hit from the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the country at once. (More Nicaragua stories.)