Most hurricanes vent their fury and then quickly move on.
But Hurricane Mitch did its destructive work slowly. Traveling northwest across the Caribbean, skirting Jamaica and Cuba, its winds reached a peak of 157 knots on Oct. 26 just off the northeast coast of Honduras, making it one of the strongest storms of this century. It stayed at this intensity for the next 24 hours before beginning to weaken. But the emergency continued. On the morning of Oct. 28, the storm stalled just north of Honduras.