Hurricane Iris hits Belize

BIG CREEK, Belize -- Flattening buildings and flinging boats ashore, Hurricane Iris tore through Belize and capsized a yacht carrying U.S. divers, killing 15 people and leaving five others missing and feared dead.

Twenty divers from the Richmond, Va., area and eight crew members were aboard the MV Wave Dancer when the year's most powerful Atlantic storm hit southern Belize with 140 mph winds Monday night, said Patricia Rose, spokeswoman for the Miami-based Peter Hughes Diving, which coordinated the trip.

She said five crew members and three divers had been accounted for Tuesday morning. The boat was one of two 120-foot yachts that had been chartered by the Richmond Dive Club for a weeklong trip in Belize.

The Wave Dancer lay on its side in about 12 feet of water on Tuesday, just a few feet from shore. The night before, Iris' storm surge temporarily raised the sea level by some 13 to 18 feet, pulling the boats with it and flooding nearby land.

Stunned passengers on the neighboring Belize Aggressor III watched Tuesday as the bodies of friends were pulled from the water. Helicopters roamed overhead, apparently looking for survivors.

"We're hoping for survivors, but I don't know that it's likely," Rose said in Miami. By midday, 15 bodies had been recovered, Belize police Detective David Williams said.

Iris lost power quickly as it moved inland, crossing Guatemala overnight and weakening to a tropical depression with winds below 40 mph. At midday, the remains of the storm had emerged into the Pacific Ocean, and there was a chance it could form again.

Several people received minor injuries in the storm but there were no other reports of deaths, Vaughan Gill, a spokesman for Prime Minister Said Musa, said Tuesday night.

13,000 homeless

Gill said at least 13,000 people were left homeless after Iris either ripped the roofs off of their modest wooden houses or flattened them. Most residents were safe because they had moved into shelters before the storm hit, he said.

"There is a need for building materials, clothing, food and shelter," said Gill, adding that Honduras has promised to send helicopters to ferry the tents into the isolated areas.