Hurricane Mitch Article Part 1

As you read Part One of this article, do not use a dictionary. Try to guess the meaning of the bold-faced words from context. Write your guesses in the margins. Once you have finished reading, complete the vocabulary chart in Exercise One and check your answers.

A look back at Mitch's rampage

EDITOR'S NOTE - Born as a hurricane in the wee hours of Oct. 24, Mitch grew into one of the biggest - and deadliest - tropical cyclones of this century. By the time it broke up off the Florida coast Thursday, the damage wrought by Mitch had reached biblical proportions: an estimated 10,000 dead, thousands more missing, billions of dollars in damage. Associated Press correspondents throughout Central America contributed to this picture of the storm's wrath.

Mitch veered onto the forecasters' video monitors as a huge, threatening swirl in the middle of the western Caribbean.

"Satellite images suggest that the hurricane is strengthening," the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned Oct. 24. But that Saturday morning, and for many hours afterward, Mitch's path was far from clear.

That afternoon, it was 215 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and moving north at 7 mph. Officials there prepared for a hit. Cuba feared it would be next.

But both nations were largely spared as the slow-moving storm meandered through the Caribbean. Three days later Mitch's target finally became clear: Central America, a land mass of poor nations, fragile houses, vulnerable crops.

Mitch, now the fourth-strongest Caribbean hurricane this century, moved in for the kill.

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Vacationers at the Posada del Sol resort on the island of Guanaja, 75 miles off the Honduran coast, remember the shrieking wind - a sound like a freight train or a 747 jet taking off.

Secure inside the concrete compound, they waited a hellish 36 hours, listening to the crashing tree limbs, roof tiles and big concrete blocks - and the infernal wind.

Many of Guanaja's 5,000 residents, meanwhile, waited out the storm in a protected canyon extending across the island.

veered onto: appeared on, after changing direction

A hit: a strike, an attack

Were largely spared: avoided serious damage

Moved in for the kill: got closer before striking

Infernal: hellish

For more than a day, the hurricane's eye hovered over Guanaja, ripping apart wooden houses on stilts, tearing boats from their docks, knocking out power and telephones.

The storm wiped out the brightly colored flowers and greenery that once covered the island, leaving behind a barren landscape.

"I've never seen anything like it before," recalled Marvin Stahl of Waskom, Texas, who was on a diving vacation with his wife. "There is no foliage on the island - every tree, all the limbs are gone, all the leaves are gone."

Soon, the storm's fury moved to Honduras itself, and its Central American neighbors. It dumped as much as 25 inches of rain in a single day. Rivers swelled to several times their normal size, and the brown rapids snatched up houses, cows - even people - and carried them downstream, sometimes to the ocean.

The heavy rains soaked the hill country of Honduras and Nicaragua until the soil in some places became so wet it finally slipped loose, sending mud, rocks and trees spilling down onto homes - entire towns.

Honduran President Carlos Flores Facusse went on national television to declare his country's Caribbean coast a disaster zone.

The rain - up to 25 inches in mountain areas - had begun to take a huge toll. Tens of thousands were evacuated from low-lying areas. The floodwaters in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa rose to stunning levels: the third floor of a hospital was evacuated as the Choluteca River poured into the second floor.

At a noisy shelter in a trade school, mothers wept silently as they cradled their children on mattresses slapped on the floor. Barefoot kids hollered as they ran after a soccer ball.

Edwin Israel, 14, waited patiently behind a small group of adults while they listed all their needs: food, medicine, clothing, hope.

After the grownups left, Edwin admitted what he wanted most.

"Shoes," he said softly, glancing at his bare feet. "Hurricane Mitch took mine away."

(Associated Press)

Hovered over: remained above

Wiped out: completely destroyed

Snatched up: picked up quickly

Coast: seashore

Shelter: a type of emergency housing (e.g. "a homeless shelter")

Compare your definitions for the bold-faced words with the definitions given below. Then fill in the chart. Write a quick note or two telling what clues helped you understand the word's meaning. The first one has been done for you.

Bold-faced Word	Definition or Synonym	Clues that Helped
swirl	something that looks round and can move	forecasters can see it on a monitor; we know Mitch is a hurricane.
	making a loud high-pitched sound
	destination
	looking at quickly
	wooden platforms that boats are tied to
	made very wet
	cause a lot of damage
	incredible; surprising
	wandered
	increased in size
	yelled
	poles which can elevate houses
	a group of buildings
	section of a river with fast moving water
	adults
	noncount word for leaves
	deposited; left all at once
	empty