Felix's 163-mile-per-hour winds tore off roofs and destroyed homes in Sandy Bay, Puerto Cabezas.

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua - A week after Hurricane Felix made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Nicaragua's coast, rescue workers and government officials are working tirelessly to reach victims left stranded by the storm.

In Puerto Cabezas, the streets are clogged with downed trees, destroyed power lines and people searching for food and water.

Rain and flooding continue to plague coastal towns and damaged roads are keeping relief efforts limited to air.

Soldiers unload family packs from a DC-3 "air-bridge" chartered by Operation Blessing and partner Mission Aviation Fellowship.

In a government briefing, Nicaraguan officials said that more than 155,000 have been affected by Hurricane Felix and of those, 106,000 are located in the Puerto Cabezas region. Nearly 8,000 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

"My house went like this," said Jose, indicating with his hands how the wind raised the structure completely off the ground and flipped it upside down.

Yesterday, OBI chartered a DC-3 plane to airlift several tons of food and relief supplies provided by USAID. On the ground, teams are working with a local church to distribute relief kits providing families with a week's worth of food and emergency supplies.

An elderly woman carries away her relief goods. Each pack contains essential hygiene items and enough food to last a family of five for a week.

"Our team reports that 80-90 percent of all buildings and homes were destroyed or suffered major damage," said OBI President Bill Horan. "Thousands are homeless, hungry and drinking contaminated water."

"Thank you very much," said one woman after receiving a survival kit. "We need all the help we can get."

Outside of Nicaragua, OBI is also working with the Minister of Health and the Honduran First Lady as well as El Shaddai, a local non-profit, and sending $4.8 million worth of critically-needed medicine to victims. In addition, OBI is working to provide bed nets to shield off diseases carried by mosquitoes.

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.

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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