 - Hurricane Isabel reclaims Category 5 status with 160 mph winds_files/printerheader.gif)
 - Hurricane Isabel reclaims Category 5 status with 160 mph winds_files/10pixspacer.gif){kind=spacer}
| Hurricane Isabel reclaims Category 5 status with 160 mph winds |
| MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Isabel's sustained
winds increased back to 160 mph Saturday as the newly upgraded
Category 5 hurricane swirled ominously closer to the Atlantic
Coast. The powerful hurricane had earlier in the day been lowered to a Category 4 storm after its sustained winds fell from 160 mph to 150 mph. It was reclassified after a hurricane hunter plane flew into the eye to measure its intensity Saturday afternoon. A hurricane hits the top level of the five-tiered Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale when its winds exceed 155 mph. The slow-moving, powerful storm was still several days from land, and forecasters were unsure if it would strike the United States. However, computer models predicted it would turn toward Georgia and the Carolinas over the next five days. "It's not definite, but things are looking more ominous than yesterday for the East Coast," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Eric Blake said Saturday. At 11 a.m. ET Isabel was centered about 405 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico and was moving west at 10 mph. (Related: Isabel maps and bulletins) Forecasters expected it to continue that movement until Sunday afternoon. Large ocean swells and dangerous surf conditions were forecast for the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean. And the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning Friday advising tourists to avoid the Bahamas because of the storm. The National Hurricane Center's five-day forecast for Isabel, released at 11 a.m., put the hurricane roughly 360 miles east of the Savannah, Ga., early Thursday, if it makes a predicted turn to the northwest. But hurricanes can be unpredictable, and long-range forecasts have large possibilities for error. The 11 a.m. forecast position for Isabel's center in five days is 100 miles closer to the coast than the previous forecast. Part of the reason for that is because the forecast track was shifted to the west, indicating the uncertainty forecasters are faced with. Leaving the door open to the possibility the forecast track might shift again, forecasters said Hurricane Isabel could still strike anywhere from north Florida to Virginia, and officials warned all East Coast residents to be alert. "If you've been lax with your hurricane preparations, now's a really good time to catch up,'' Blake said. Forecasters think that they'll know more about the potential direction of the storm late this weekend. Some residents along the East Coast were taking that advice, buying water, plywood and other supplies just in case Isabel made landfall. National Guard officials in the Southeast said enough troops were ready to help if necessary, despite mobilizations in Iraq and other parts of the world. Water management officials in Florida were also worried about some of the already-swollen rivers and lakes because a direct hit from a hurricane could cause severe flooding. Until late Friday, Hurricane Isabel maintained Category 5 strength, the strongest level on the five-tiered Saffir-Simpson damage potential scale, for 30 hours – an extremely rare feat. The record duration at Cat. 5 is five days, held by a hurricane with the name Dog in 1950. Hurricane Allen in 1980 became a Category 5 hurricane three times as its winds kept revving up above 155 mph, then slowing down. Wind speeds usually fluctuate in intense hurricanes, and Isabel's probably will, too, over the next five days. Warm ocean temperatures ahead of the storm and other conditions could allow Isabel to keep intensifying through Sunday, forecasters said. The last Atlantic hurricane to develop into a Category 5 storm was Mitch in 1998, which moved into the Caribbean Sea and eventually killed about 11,000 and left thousands more missing in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. The only three Category 5 hurricanes on record to strike the U.S. coast were Andrew in 1992, Camille in 1969, and the Florida Keys Labor Day hurricane in 1935. Andrew, still the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history with a $30 billion damage toll, tore through south Florida and Louisiana, causing 43 deaths and leaving 180,000 people homeless. Camille killed 143 on the Gulf Coast and 113 in Virginia floods. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. |