TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Thousands of people fled Central America's Caribbean coast on Monday to escape the powerful winds and torrential rains of Hurricane Felix, but many others were left to ride out the approaching storm.

The highly dangerous Category 4 hurricane, due to make landfall on Tuesday morning, charged toward Nicaragua and Honduras with top sustained winds of 135 mph (215 kph), provoking fears of a repeat of Hurricane Mitch, which killed some 10,000 people in Central America in 1998.

"There could be serious damage and material, like human, losses, if people do not take precautionary measures," Honduran President Manuel Zelaya warned.

Up to 40,000 Hondurans were evacuated to hurricane shelters, officials said.

But some 15,000 people were unable to find transportation and would face the storm in their homes. "They couldn't be evacuated because there is no fuel to take them to safe areas," Carolina Echeverria, a deputy from Cabo Gracias a Dios on the border with Nicaragua, where Felix was headed.

Hundreds of tourists were flown to the Honduran mainland from beach and diving resorts on the Bay Islands, and police reported long lines at supermarkets and gas stations in coastal cities as residents stocked up on food, water and fuel.

Emergency workers sailed thousands of Miskito Indians out of sparsely populated, coastal areas near the border, dotted with lagoons and crocodile-infested rivers. The Miskitos, who traditionally fish for turtles, formed a British protectorate until the 19th century. More than 35,000 live in Honduras, and over 100,000 in Nicaragua.

Twin Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes making landfall on the same day is unprecedented, according to National Hurricane Center records dating back to 1949. The closest comparison happened at 5 a.m. on Aug. 24, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Florida 23 hours after Hurricane Lester hit Baja California, Mexico.