Flooding from Hurricane Dean, the first Category 5 storm of the season, wipes out homes in Tulancingo, Mexico.

PUNTA GORDA, Nicaragua - Tidal surges and heavy rains marked the arrival of Hurricane Felix as it made landfall as a Category 5 storm along the coast of Nicaragua on Tuesday.

Even though the storm has been downgraded to a Category 1, tidal surges are projected to reach 18 feet above the normal levels and up to 2 feet of rain are forecasted in some areas.

Government officials report more than 30,000 Miskito Indians have already been displaced and some 70,000 Hondurans were evacuated to shelters.

OBI medical teams are en route from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to deliver medical supplies and coordinate relief efforts with the Honduran government and El Shaddai, a local non-profit.

The brunt of the hurricane hit near Punta Gorda, about 10 miles northeast of Puerto Cabezas.

Operation Blessing is focusing on providing relief by air and working with long-time partner Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to bring aircraft in from the U.S. and surrounding countries. Aircraft will be used to transport personnel and emergency relief supplies to victims.

Felix is the second Category 5 storm of the 2007 season. Hurricane Dean, which slammed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 on Aug. 20, killed 27 people in the Caribbean and Mexico.

OBI responded to Dean by distributing thousands of roof panels to help residents in Chetumal, Mexico, repair damaged homes. Teams also gave out relief kits containing items such as oil, sugar, beans, rice, noodles and hygiene items and set up feeding tents in flooded regions of Tulancingo, Mexico, that served an average of 500 hot meals a day to flood victims.

So far, OBI has transported more than 6 tons of food and 5,000 liters of water to affected communities.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

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