Hurricane Ida makes landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast (Extra)

Nov 5, 2009, 16:00 GMT

Managua - Hurricane Ida hit Nicaragua's Caribbean coast with heavy rain Thursday and led to the evacuation of several villages in the area, Nicaraguan authorities said.

General Mario Parez-Cassar, head of the Central American country's Civil Defence, said Ida made landfall at about 9 am (1500 GMT) near the village of Sandy Bay Sirpi, about 100 kilometres north of Bluefields.

Perez-Cassar said there were no immediate reports of casualties. Rain was seriously affecting areas like Karawala, Kukra Hill, Tasba Pauni, Laguna de Perlas and Barra del Rio Grande, where there were reports of uprooted trees and scores of homes left without a roof.

The hurricane hit the mainland after passing over Corn Island and the neighbouring Little Corn Island, in Nicaragua's Caribbean waters, where hundreds of people had to be evacuated.

According to the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre (NHC), Ida was a category-one on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale and was moving northwest at 9 kilometres per hour.

Hours after it became a hurricane over the Caribbean, Ida had sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour with higher gusts, although it was expected to weaken over land.

Perez-Cassar said rivers flowed over their banks, while flooding and power cuts were also caused by Ida on the coast of Nicaragua. He warned that up to 20,000 people could be affected by the hurricane in 19 municipalities, since strong winds were felt in a 100-kilometres radius.