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Izvor: Live Science

SAN ANDRES ISLAND, Colombia (AP) -- Hurricane Beta battered the mountainous Caribbean island of Providencia on Saturday, ripping roofs off wooden homes and forcing people to seek shelter in brick shelters on high ground.

Beta was the 13th hurricane this year, more than any Atlantic season on record.

This season has also seen 23 named storms, more than at any point since record-keeping began in 1851. The previous record of 21 was set in 1933. Last week Tropical Storm Alpha formed, the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names was exhausted.

Heading toward Central America, the storm lashed the Colombian island with heavy winds, torrential rains and high surf, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

"Extensive damage to homes has occurred on the island,'' the center said.

Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning for its Caribbean coast and began evacuating thousands of people as forecasters predicted the Category 1 hurricane would strengthen before hitting Central America.

Just one minor injury had been reported on Providencia, said Juan Guillermo Angel, who was directing Colombia's response to the hurricane from San Andres Island. He said the island's 5,000 residents and a handful of tourists there appeared safe.

Angel said electricity and telephone grids were down and it would likely be midday before a navy frigate could reach Providencia, a former pirate outpost inhabited mostly by descendants of slaves who speak English as their first language.

Just before 1500GMT, the National Hurricane Center said Beta was centered about 115 miles (185 kilometers) east of the Nicaraguan coastal town of Puerto Cabezas moving slowly northwest at nearly 3 mph (5 kph). Its maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph (137 kph).

The center said Providencia would likely be battered into the afternoon as Beta moved toward the Nicaraguan coast 125 miles (200 kilometers) away. The storm surge could run as high as seven feet (2 meters) and up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain could fall on the island, it said.

The hurricane was expected to hit Central America by Sunday as a Category 2 storm...

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