Felix surges to maximum strength

Thousands of people on Aruba took shelter from the storm
Honduras is on hurricane alert as the "potentially catastrophic" Caribbean Hurricane Felix strengthened to a category five storm.

With winds now up to 270km/h (165mph), Felix passed Aruba and Netherlands Antilles, sparing them serious damage.

Felix - the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season - ruined orchards and demolished a concert venue when it hit Grenada on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a tropical storm has caused fatal landslides in Mexico.

The two storms come two weeks after Hurricane Dean, which killed 18 people as it crossed the Caribbean.

Henriette watch

Honduras has issued a hurricane watch from Limon south to the border with Nicaragua as Felix rushes through the Caribbean towards Central America.

On Sunday, thousands of tourists and residents on Aruba and two of the Netherlands Antilles islands - Bonaire and Curacao - near Venezuela were forced to take shelter as Felix struck.

Some homes were flooded and trees downed, however the government of the Netherlands Antilles has ended storm warnings and the damage appeared slight.

By Sunday afternoon, the storm was about 550km (345 miles) south-east of Jamaica, moving in a westerly direction at 33km/h (21mph), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said.

Felix is expected to pass Honduras and Jamaica before it hits Belize by Wednesday.

Separately, six people died in landslides caused by Tropical Storm Henriette in the Mexican city of Acapulco.

One adult and two children were killed when flooding caused a boulder to smash into a home.

Three siblings died when a landslide hit their home in another part of the town.

The NHC has warned that Henriette could become a hurricane on Monday and threaten Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Tuesday.

The Atlantic hurricane season is expected to peak on 10 September.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
US National Hurricane Centre
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