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PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua, 9:49 AM PDT -- Helicopters clattered overhead and Miskito Indians paddled canoes through a debris-littered sea Thursday, searching desperately for survivors of Hurricane Felix. At least 40 people were reported dead and scores remained missing.

Fifty-two Nicaraguans were pulled alive from the sea in neighboring Honduras, and there were reports of bodies floating in the waters, said Carolina Echeverria, a federal lawmaker for the Honduran region.

The exhausted survivors told rescuers the storm caught them by surprise, flooding the tiny islands used by lobster fishermen off the Nicaraguan coast and forcing them to spend 16 hours clinging to anything that would float in violent waters.

Many suffered dehydration and were receiving medical care in the seaside town of Villeda Morales, on the Nicaraguan border.

"We believe there are many more in the ocean or on nearby beaches," Echeverria said. "People in neighboring communities ... have seen an undetermined number of cadavers floating in the sea and in the Coco and Segovia rivers."

Echeverria said investigations had revised downward initial reports that 150 people had been rescued. Honduran Defense Minister Aristides Mejia said he was sending boats and a military helicopter to the area to help in the rescue operation.

The ocean was filled with debris, preventing a rescue mission from coming ashore in Sandy Bay, where the eye of Felix made landfall Tuesday with catastrophic 160 mph winds and a storm surge estimated at 18 feet above normal tides.

About 150,000 Miskitos -- descendants of Indians, European settlers and African slaves -- live on island reefs and small jungle hamlets along the Honduran-Nicaraguan border.

The storm developed quickly and Nicaragua posted a hurricane warning less than 24 hours before the storm hit the coast.

From a distance, rescue teams could see fallen palm trees, roofless concrete structures and wooden homes reduced to splinters. Women on the shore wept in anguish. Food and fuel were scarce as emergency aid was airlifted into the regional capital of Puerto Cabezas, a town difficult to reach even in good weather.

The U.S. Southern Command sent the USS Wasp to Nicaragua to help coordinate U.S. relief efforts. Venezuela also sent aid and 57 Cuban doctors and nurses already established on the Miskito coast on medical missions were helping as well.

As Felix's remnants drenched Central America, Hurricane Henriette plowed into Mexico for a second time Wednesday, making landfall near the port city of Guaymas with top sustained winds of 75 mph before weakening as it headed inland.

The Hurricane Center said Henriette was dissipating Thursday along far northern Mexico, dumping rain on Arizona and New Mexico.

Nine deaths were reported from the Pacific storm, which hit Baja California on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a clam digger was swept away by high tides and a man fell from his roof while conducting repairs, Mexico's government news agency Notimex reported.

Nicaraguan Civil Defense Department spokesman Alvaro Rivas said at least 40 were killed by Hurricane Felix. More were missing in the Matagalpa province in the north, where rivers overflowed their banks, and around the hard-hit coastal city of Puerto Cabezas.