Desperate airlift

Emergency services sailed Miskito Indians out of vulnerable coastal areas in Honduras, and Nicaragua said it would evacuate thousands more on its side of the swampy border area.

On Monday aircraft shuttled hundreds of tourists from the island resorts of Honduras and Belize in a desperate airlift.

Grupo Taca Airlines provided special free flights to the mainland, quickly touching down and taking off again to pick up more tourists.

Some 1,000 people were evacuated from the Honduran island of Roatan, popular for its pristine reefs and diving resorts.

Felix, the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic season, was for hours a top-ranked Category 5 storm like last month's Hurricane Dean, which killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Category 5 hurricanes can cause huge damage and are considered rare.

But there were four of them in the 2005 Atlantic season, including Katrina, and more of the potent storms this year could boost claims that global warming may produce stronger tropical cyclones.

Also on Monday, Tropical Storm Henriette headed across the eastern Pacific towards Mexico's Baja California peninsula at near hurricane strength after killing six people in the resort city of Acapulco during the weekend.