June 20 Storm Surge

From the Associated Press -- glad no one was killed -- did anyone ride these waves?

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MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Big waves generated by a storm 3,200 km away battered Central America's Pacific coast yesterday, wrecking about 20 houses in Nicaragua and a small hotel in Guatemala, civil defence officials said.

There were no reports of fatalities.

Authorities ordered 200 people evacuated in Nicaragua as reports of high waves came in from other Central American countries and southern Mexico.

Experts said the event was not a tsunami, the massive waves triggered by undersea earthquakes.

Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the waves were caused by a powerful South Pacific storm that was sending swells up to four metres high across the ocean, hitting beaches from Ecuador's Galapagos Islands to the Mexican resort of Acapulco.

Beaches were closed as far south as northern Chile, but no damage was reported along the South American coast.

Central America was the hardest hit, but Cobb said the worst was over and the waves should began to subside.

"They should start coming down over the next several days," he said. "We expect them to gradually subside over the next 24 to 48 hours."

On Guatemala's western shore, waves up to four metres high caused extensive damage to a small hotel frequented by surfers in Sipacate, about 100 km southeast of Guatemala City, employees said.

"The sea took away eight rooms and part of the restaurant, which was made of wood," said Brigido de Paz, the manager. "The kitchen and the rooms that were made of concrete are flooded and damaged."

In Nicaragua, four-metre waves carried water inland and destroyed about 20 small homes in Puerto Corinto, civil defence official William Rodriguez said.

The government sent 75 Nicaraguan soldiers, firefighters and rescue workers to help with the evacuations.

Dozens of people were evacuated in El Salvador, where waves up to six metres high were reported.