WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, Sep 2 (Reuters) Gusty winds knocked down trees and stinging rain flooded streets in the Netherlands Antilles today as Hurricane Felix strengthened into a ''major'' storm north of the Dutch Caribbean islands.
On a similar though more southerly track toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as last month's powerful Hurricane Dean, which killed 27 people, Felix's top sustained winds had increased to 125 miles per hour by 1800 GMT, the US National Hurricane Center said.
That made the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic storm season, located around 490 miles southeast of the Jamaican capital Kingston, a Category 3, or ''major'' hurricane capable of causing serious damage.
Hurricane Dean in mid-August became a rare Category 5 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the most dangerous and potentially catastrophic of storms, like Katrina, Rita and Wilma in the devastating hurricane season of 2005.
There seemed nothing to prevent Felix from gaining more strength and the Miami-based hurricane center predicted it would become a Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 131 mph in 48 hours as it approached Honduras and Nicaragua.
The hurricane was moving toward the west-northwest at a brisk 18 mph. The Dutch authorities lifted hurricane watches for Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire but Jamaica and the Cayman Islands issued storm watches just in case.
None of the major computer models used to predict hurricane tracks took Felix through the Yucatan Channel into the Gulf of Mexico, where the United States gets a third of its domestic crude oil and 15 percent of its natural gas production.
But most of the models did take Felix across the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche, where Mexico has some major oil fields. Long-range forecasts are unreliable, however.
Energy markets were on alert, as they have been for all hurricanes since 2004 and 2005, when storms like Ivan, Katrina and Rita toppled oil platforms, severed pipelines and flooded refineries, sending crude prices to then record levels.
NO SERIOUS DAMAGE Neither Curacao nor its sister island, Bonaire, reported serious damage or injuries but dawn broke to reveal flooded streets and toppled trees in Curacao.
''The local population and visitors remained in their homes and hotels overnight. No calls were received on the emergency line set up in preparation for the storm,'' Bonaire's Lt Gov Herbert Domacasse said in a statement.
In Curacao, unused to hurricanes because the storms normally track well to the north, supermarkets remained open late into the night to allow startled residents to stock up on emergency supplies.
The authorities opened shelters for people living in vulnerable areas, such as on the coastline, and the island's airport closed for several hours.
Felix's hurricane force winds extended out only 15 miles and tropical storm force winds 115 miles, meaning Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles experienced gusty conditions but not the full fury of the storm.
The 2007 hurricane season, expected to be a busy one, is approaching its peak. Most storms hit from August 20 to mid-October, with September 10 marking the statistical height of the season.
Reuters RS VP0012
On a similar though more southerly track toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as last month's powerful Hurricane Dean, which killed 27 people, Felix's top sustained winds had increased to 125 miles per hour by 1800 GMT, the US National Hurricane Center said.
That made the second hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic storm season, located around 490 miles southeast of the Jamaican capital Kingston, a Category 3, or ''major'' hurricane capable of causing serious damage.
Hurricane Dean in mid-August became a rare Category 5 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the most dangerous and potentially catastrophic of storms, like Katrina, Rita and Wilma in the devastating hurricane season of 2005.
There seemed nothing to prevent Felix from gaining more strength and the Miami-based hurricane center predicted it would become a Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 131 mph in 48 hours as it approached Honduras and Nicaragua.
The hurricane was moving toward the west-northwest at a brisk 18 mph. The Dutch authorities lifted hurricane watches for Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire but Jamaica and the Cayman Islands issued storm watches just in case.
None of the major computer models used to predict hurricane tracks took Felix through the Yucatan Channel into the Gulf of Mexico, where the United States gets a third of its domestic crude oil and 15 percent of its natural gas production.
But most of the models did take Felix across the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche, where Mexico has some major oil fields. Long-range forecasts are unreliable, however.
Energy markets were on alert, as they have been for all hurricanes since 2004 and 2005, when storms like Ivan, Katrina and Rita toppled oil platforms, severed pipelines and flooded refineries, sending crude prices to then record levels.
NO SERIOUS DAMAGE Neither Curacao nor its sister island, Bonaire, reported serious damage or injuries but dawn broke to reveal flooded streets and toppled trees in Curacao.
''The local population and visitors remained in their homes and hotels overnight. No calls were received on the emergency line set up in preparation for the storm,'' Bonaire's Lt Gov Herbert Domacasse said in a statement.
In Curacao, unused to hurricanes because the storms normally track well to the north, supermarkets remained open late into the night to allow startled residents to stock up on emergency supplies.
The authorities opened shelters for people living in vulnerable areas, such as on the coastline, and the island's airport closed for several hours.
Felix's hurricane force winds extended out only 15 miles and tropical storm force winds 115 miles, meaning Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles experienced gusty conditions but not the full fury of the storm.
The 2007 hurricane season, expected to be a busy one, is approaching its peak. Most storms hit from August 20 to mid-October, with September 10 marking the statistical height of the season.
Reuters RS VP0012
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