11:09 20May2005 DJN-DJ Hurricane Adrian Drenches El Salvador: Rapidly
Weakens

DJ Hurricane Adrian Drenches El Salvador: Rapidly Weakens

PUERTO LA LIBERTAD, El Salvador (AP)--Hurricane Adrian cut off
power and unleashed heavy rains in flood-prone areas as it slammed into
El Salvador.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm weakened
rapidly before hitting the Pacific Coast and may have dipped below
hurricane strength. The first recorded Pacific hurricane to strike El
Salvador is moving across the interior.
If the system reaches the Caribbean as a tropical storm, Miami
forecasters expect upper-level wind shear to keep it from intensifying
again.
About 14,000 people evacuated before Adrian's arrival. Central
American mountains are expected to tear the storm apart as it moves
northeast. It is not expected to affect the continental United States.
The center of the hurricane hit a stretch of coast south of the
capital, San Salvador, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center,
which reported maximum sustained winds of almost 75 mph as Adrien made
landfall. It was the first recorded Pacific hurricane to strike El
Salvador.
The hurricane was expected to weaken and continue moving northeast
across El Salvador at about 9 mph before cutting across Honduras.
Adrian, the eastern Pacific's first named tropical storm of the
season, washed out roads and unleashed heavy rains that forecasters said
could cause severe flooding.
"The hurricane has entered Salvadoran territory, and several things
may now happen," President Tony Saca said. "This emergency situation
isn't over yet."
The country's National Service for Territorial Studies said the
hurricane hit land near the port of Acajutla, about 35 miles west of San
Salvador, and was weakening.
U.S. forecasters placed Adrian closer to Puerto La Libertad, the
beach resort nearest San Salvador. Streets in La Libertad were deserted
as rains sprayed across an agitated surf and waves pounded at the pier.
Authorities evacuated about 14,000 people from low-lying coastal
areas, in some cases using helicopters as waters rose. Most were taken
to improvised shelters at schools, where classes were canceled.
Rivers rose both in El Salvador and in neighboring Honduras, both
nations devastated by Hurricane Mitch - a Caribbean storm - in 1998.
The rains began to wash out some roads in both countries, officials
reported.
Already one death was indirectly linked to the storm: a military
pilot died Wednesday when he crashed a small plane that he was ferrying
from San Salvador's civilian airport to a military base as a precaution
against the heavy winds.
The U.S. hurricane center reported Adrian had maximum sustained
winds of about 80 mph before making landfall.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires