Anyway, the Wind Blows
According to the AP, Hurricane Felix is making landfall in Honduras with winds of over 160 mph, making it a Category 5, the highest on the scale:
LA CEIBA, Honduras -Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua's Miskito Coast as a record-setting Category 5 storm Tuesday, whipping metal rooftops through the air like razors and forcing thousands to flee. Hurricane Henriette made for a direct hit on the Cabos resorts of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
While hurricanes always leave destruction in their wake, no one needs it less than the Hondurans. With a GDP per capita of less than $3200, it is a very poor country and one whose small and weak economy can be severely set back by a hurricane of even lesser magnitude:
Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America and one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and massive unemployment, is banking on expanded trade under the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The country has met most of its macroeconomic targets, and began a three-year IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) program in February 2004. The economy relies heavily on a narrow range of exports, notably bananas and coffee, making it vulnerable to natural disasters and shifts in commodity prices, but in recent years has experienced a rapid rise in exports of light manufacturers. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest trading partner, and on reduction of the high crime rate, as a means of attracting and maintaining investment.
Unlike New Orleans, there is no central government with billions of tax payer dollars that can bail out those whose livelihoods Felix destroys. With a 28% unemployment rate and 53% living below the (Honduran) poverty line it's hard to imagine a country less capable of facing down such ill winds.