MIAMI – Hurricane Felix rapidly intensified into a ferocious, top-scale Category 5 hurricane Sunday night as it rumbled deeper through the Caribbean Sea – where it found an abundant supply of nourishing fuel.

It poses no threat to Florida. Residents of other areas were less fortunate.

Felix produced 165-mph sustained winds as it drew energy from the warm sea and followed Hurricane Dean’s general path toward a midweek collision with Central America or Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In Belize, the most apparent target, coastal residents began seeking higher ground, others boarded up their homes, and food and water disappeared from markets.

Dean was so powerful, it forced the crew of a hurricane hunter plane to abbreviate its mission Sunday night – an exceedingly rare occurrence.

“Because of the extreme turbulence that the aircraft experienced, the mission is being aborted and the aircraft is returning to St. Croix,” said hurricane specialist James Franklin of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Felix managed to impress Franklin and other veteran forecasters, who thought they had seen it all.

Its rate of intensification was one of the fastest ever recorded, and it acquired a classic, frightening shape – a well-defined eye embedded in dense, swirling bands of clouds.

“Spectacular,” said hurricane specialist Richard Pasch.

Luckily, sustained hurricane-strength winds never quite reached Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, but wet and windy squalls rocked the small Dutch islands, positioned so far south in the Caribbean that they usually avoid even glancing blows from hurricanes.

“Felix passed north of the island of Bonaire in the early hours of the morning, causing sustained rain and winds, but resulting in no major incidents,” said Lt. Gov. Herbert Domacasse.

“The local population and visitors remained in their homes and hotels overnight,” he said. “No calls were received on the emergency line set up in preparation for the storm.”

About a dozen homes in a low-lying area of Curacao were flooded and there was little visible damage in Aruba, according to The Associated Press. There were no early indications of deaths or injuries.

Felix was not expected to directly strike Jamaica or Grand Cayman, but its outer effects could reach those islands as the storm’s core passes to the south, so officials issued precautionary tropical storm watches.

Grand Cayman expected a modest storm surge, four- to six-foot waves and up to three inches of rain.

“We would like residents on the south and west coasts to take precautions,” said Barbara Carby, director of the islands’ emergency management operation.

Still, the real danger exists farther along Felix’s track and will manifest itself later this week.

The official long-range forecast, subject to a considerable margin of error, had Felix’s winds at 155 mph – or higher – when it hits or brushes Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and the Yucatan on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Those areas – in many cases, mountainous and remote – are extremely vulnerable to flash floods and mud slides.

In addition, oil workers may have to be evacuated again from rigs and other facilities in the southern Gulf of Mexico. They fled Dean’s Category 5 winds two weeks ago, and Felix seemed poised to reach the same area Thursday or Friday.

Meanwhile, forecasters were able to deliver some good news for the entire hurricane zone:

A system that had been gathering itself in the distant Atlantic weakened considerably Sunday. It still could pull itself together, though, and forecasters continue to monitor it.

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(c) 2007, The Miami Herald.

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AP-NY-09-02-07 2047EDT