Hurricane Felix, a hurricane of the strongest category, brought winds and heavy rain that blew away villages, flooded rivers, caused mudslides and killed many people. Emergency aid was sent to the regional capital of Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua, but many isolated villages were cut off by the storm. Nicaragua was hit by Felix on Tuesday 4 September with full force, and the subsequent floods caused much damage.

September 6, 2007 - 5:43am

 (AP Photo/Ariel Leon)

More than 50 people were missing in the Matagalpa province in the north, where rivers overflowed their banks, and another 10 missing around the hard-hit coastal city of Puerto Cabezas. La Prensa reported the death toll had risen to 38. But today officals reported the death-toll to have jumped to 130.

Felix went right over vulnerable, low-lying settlements of Nicaragua's Miskito Indians. The Miskitos are the largest Indian group in Nicaragua, descendants of Indians, European settlers and African slaves. The Miskito Coast is an impoverished region where about 150,000 people live in jungle settlements. Honduran officials rescued 150 Miskito Indians who were adrift on the ocean clinging to just about anything in the water.

Felix also wiped out crops and damaged most of the 70 tons of food and emergency goods that had been flown in before the storm. Even Puerto Cabezas' hospital filled with water.

Nicaragua's military airlifted sheets, mattresses, food and first aid to the remote cut-off regions. Ortega said Venezuela and US governments offered aid and that Cuban doctors were already on the ground. Emergency aid is also arriving from Panama and several international organizations. Honduras, which had relatively little damage, sent a military cargo plane to help Nicaragua.