The storm was so powerful that it tossed around a US "hurricane hunter" data gathering airplane and forced it to abort its mission, the Miami Herald reported.

At 8 am (1200 GMT,) the center of Felix was located some 260 miles (425 kilometers) south Kingston, Jamaica and about the same distance east of Cabo Gracias a Dios, which is located on Nicaragua's border with Honduras.

The storm was moving westward at about 21 miles (33 kilometers) per hour, packing winds of 165 miles (270 kilometers) per hour on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with higher gusts, the Florida-based National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane was on track to hit the coasts of extreme northeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Honduras early on Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. Felix then is expected to make landfall in Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula Wednesday.

No casualties were reported since Felix became the second hurricane of the Atlantic storm season on Saturday, though one person was reported missing in northern Venezuela.

In just 15 hours on Sunday, Felix jumped from a Category Two storm with winds at 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour to a rare Category Five hurricane, the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The speed at which Felix reached maximum strength was one of the fastest ever recorded, Hurricane Center specialists said.

Felix was so powerful that one of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 'hurricane hunter' airplanes was caught in a rapid updraft-downdraft cycle as it gathered data, the Miami Herald reported.

The violent cycle placed four times the weight of gravity on those aboard the plane.

"Four Gs can put a fair strain on the aircraft, and it also got some very heavy hail that can rip the paint off the plane," Hurricane Center forecaster James Franklin told the newspaper.

The airplane, a modified Orion P-3 that normally carries 14 people, was ordered back to its base at Saint Croix, one of the US Virgin Islands, Franklin said.

The storm, nourished by the warm Caribbean ocean, was expected to maintain its strength as it followed the general path that another Category Five storm, Hurricane Dean, took just last week.

Though extremely powerful, Felix "has a very small wind field," the Hurricane Center said.

"Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 45 kilometers (30 miles) from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 185 kilometers (115 miles)," the Hurricane Center said.

The Honduran government early Monday warned officials along its Caribbean coast to prepare for the hurricane. Hurricane conditions "are also possible over extreme northeastern Nicaragua," the Hurricane Center said.

In Venezuela civil defense officials said a person went missing as beaches were evacuated in Puerto Cabello, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Caracas, where Felix generated high winds, heavy rains and up to three meter (10 foot) swells.

There were no immediate reports of damage as the storm skimmed just north of the Paraguana peninsula, site of Venezuela's main oil refineries.

Meanwhile Jamaica, which lay well to the north of Felix's track, was under a tropical storm watch as it prepared to hold elections Monday, already postponed from one week ago by Hurricane Dean.

Warnings for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao were discontinued as Felix swiped the popular tourist destinations in the Netherlands Antilles after wreaking some damage in Grenada, ripping roofs, downing power lines and knocking radio and TV stations off the air.

Last week, Dean, also reaching category five, swept through the Caribbean with severe winds and rains, leaving a wide swath of damage and a death toll of 30 from Martinique to Mexico.

related report
Hondurans urged to run for their lives ahead of top-ranked Hurricane Felix
Tegucigalpa, Honduras (AFP) Sept 3 - Authorities in Honduras and Nicaragua on Monday urged coastal residents to flee for their lives as Hurricane Felix barreled toward central America at a potentially devastating maximum intensity.

"The option is for people to find a place where they may be protected, there is no longer any other option: you have to protect your lives and those of your families," said Obed Escalon, a forecaster with the Honduran weather service.

Hurricane Felix packed maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers (160 miles) per hour, which made it a rare and highly dangerous storm of the topmost category.

Last month Hurricane Dean, the first to form in the Atlantic this year, had also reached intensity five on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It left at least 30 people dead across the Caribbean and in Mexico.

Felix looked set to slam ashore near the Honduran-Nicaraguan border on Tuesday morning. Forecasts indicate it would travel inland fairly close to the Honduran shoreline, emerge in the Bay of Honduras, make landfall in Belize on Wednesday morning and continue inland to Guatemala.

This could spell disaster for the central American region where Hurricane Mitch killed thousands of people and left a trail of devastation in 1998.

Many of the areas threatened by the storm's fury are impoverished and highly vulnerable to floods and mudslides.

Both Honduras and Nicaragua ordered residents in low-lying, high-risk areas to evacuate to safer ground.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega urged the population to cooperate with military and civilian authorities conducting evacuation and emergency operations, and appealed for calm.

The Honduran emergency management agency Copeco also told people living in mudslide-prone areas to store emergency supplies, and have a suitcase ready in case they have to flee their homes.

Over the weekend, the hurricane damaged homes and downed power lines in Grenada, and lashed Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao with heavy winds, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

In just 15 hours on Sunday, Felix jumped from category two, when it packed winds of 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, to a category five.

The speed at which Felix reached maximum strength was one of the fastest ever recorded, according to specialists at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC.)

Felix was so powerful that one of the planes the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regularly flies over hurricanes to collect data was caught in a rapid updraft-downdraft cycle, the Miami Herald reported.

The violent cycle placed four times the force of gravity on those aboard the aircraft.

"Four Gs can put a fair strain on the aircraft, and it also got some very heavy hail that can rip the paint off the plane," NHC forecaster James Franklin told the newspaper.

The airplane, a modified Orion P-3, was ordered back to its base in the US Virgin Islands.

Though extremely powerful, Felix "has a very small wind field," the NHC said, with hurricane-force winds extending 45 kilometers (30 miles) from the center. Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 185 kilometers (115 miles).

At 1500 GMT, the center of Felix was located some 585 kilometers (365 miles) east of Cabo Gracias a Dios, which is located on Nicaragua's border with Honduras.

Meanwhile, Mexico, which had taken a deadly battering from Hurricane Dean, braced for a hit on its Pacific coast as Tropical Storm Henriette looked set to strengthen into a hurricane as it barreled toward the Baja California peninsula, which is dotted with tourist resorts.

The storm had already been blamed for seven deaths as rains that drenched the Mexican shoreline caused several mudslides.