Hurricane Iris Batters Belize

BELIZE CITY, Belize —  Thousands of residents and tourists fled low-lying coastal parts of Belize on Monday as Hurricane Iris, the year’s most powerful Atlantic storm, made landfall with 140-mph winds.

Iris touched down Monday night about 80 miles south-southwest of Belize City in the small coastal towns of Independence and Placencia, where dozens of homes were destroyed, according to local radio reports.

The hurricane, moving west at about 22 mph, was expected to weaken rapidly as it passed over mountainous areas of Belize and Guatemala, said a bulletin from the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

In Placencia, a fishing village and resort town of small wooden homes on stilts, numerous houses were lost, said resident Andrea Villanueva.

“Our own roof went, and most of the houses went down,” Villanueva told local LOVE-FM radio as the hurricane’s eye passed over. “But we’re experiencing a calm right now.”

Belizean weather officials said they expected the hurricane to leave the country by early today.

North of the storm, intermittent heavy rains and winds blew through Belize City, a low-lying seaside city of 65,000 people where soldiers went from door to door to evacuate people from their homes.

“This is an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane,” said Richard Knabb, a meteorologist at the Miami hurricane center.

The center warned that Iris could temporarily raise the seas 13 to 18 feet above normal, causing coastal flooding. Rainfall of 5 to 8 inches could cause flash floods and mudslides inland.