MITCH INTERFERS WITH TRAVELERS' PLANS; LOCAL RESIDENTS IN OR HEADED FOR WESTERN CARIBBEAN

Some area residents may bring back interesting stories when they return home from vacation destinations in the western Caribbean.

One couple on a cruise wasn't sure where they were headed, but the ship's route had been changed due to the fourth strongest Caribbean hurricane to hit in this century.

A Cape Girardeau man was waiting in a Cancun airport along with many other tourists who formed long lines, trying to leave before Hurricane Mitch's arrival in the area, even though the emergency alert had been canceled as Mitch veered south.

Mexico declared an alert throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, evacuating thousands of residents and tourists from vulnerable beach resorts like Cancun and Cozumel.

A group of Cape Girardeans scheduled to leave this weekend for the Cancun area may have to wait awhile.

Elizabeth Seesing of AAA Travel Agency caught the early brunt of Hurricane Mitch earlier this week.

"I just returned from a cruise Tuesday," said Seesing. "We encountered some rough seas, but the ship was rerouted. When we arrived back in Miami, there were clear skies, but some of the palm trees were almost level with the land from high winds."

Another area travel representative, Ann Swanson, owner of Gulliver's Travels at Jackson, was a day late in getting back to the states.

"She was in Honduras," said Sandy Quigley, a travel agent with Gulliver's. So many people were leaving the area that her flight was delayed, said Quigley.

The words describing the weather from most areas in the west Caribbean were "wet, windy, and dreary."

"It's the hurricane and storm season," said Mark Hill of Destinations Unlimited in Cape Girardeau. "But bad weather is nothing new in those areas, and travelers just have to work schedules around them."

Cruises are least affected, say Hill, Seesing, Quigley and Carolyn Kempf.

"They can change course quickly," said Kempf of Elite Travel and Cruises. "Instead of heading for destinations to the western Caribbean, the tour companies will switch the route to the eastern Caribbean."

The bad weather right now is creating a tough situation for some travel agencies.

"We have people ready to leave Saturday," said Kempf. "We may have to move them to new destinations. The problem could be that space is tight in some areas now."

Travelers will have to skip some areas at the present time, said Hill.

Travel representatives said tour companies will not send travelers into dangerous situations.

The majority of travelers from Southeast Missouri book Cancun area vacations.

At last report, Hurricane Mitch, hovering off the coast of Honduras, was causing downpours and 120 mph winds to create flooding and havoc throughout Honduras.

Mitch was drifting west at only 2 mph over the Bay Islands, a Honduras tourist area popular with American scuba divers and beachcombers. More than 45,000 people were evacuated from coastal and low-lying areas of Honduras.

At its peak Tuesday, Mitch was classified as the fourth-strongest Caribbean hurricane this century with 180 mph winds. By Wednesday afternoon, the 350-mile-wide storm still packed a punch, but its sustained winds were down to 120 mph.

The National Weather Service said only three Atlantic storms were stronger than Mitch at its peak: Gilbert in 1988, Allen in 1980 and the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.