Hurricane: At least 21 fatalities in Central America according to »Iota«

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A sofa floats through the streets of La Lima, Honduras: Central America was badly hit by "Iota"

Photo: Delmer Martinez / dpa

At least 21 people were killed in Central America by the severe storm "Iota".

This is evident from the first figures from the authorities in several countries.

Nicaragua reported the most casualties with 16 dead.

In the Central American country, "Iota" hit land on Monday evening (local time) as a category four hurricane.

The wind speeds of 250 km / h were just below the limit of a storm of the highest level.

Previously, »Iota« had swept over the Colombian Caribbean island of Providencia as a category five hurricane.

According to the President Iván Duque, it was the first hurricane of the highest level on Colombian territory.

According to initial information, there was at least one death there.

After the train moved on to Honduras via Nicaragua, it continued to weaken.

The number of victims is likely to rise

The number of victims is likely to rise.

Many areas were initially inaccessible due to floods, power outages and other storm damage.

According to official information, 28 bridges were damaged in Nicaragua.

According to the government, at least four people, including three children, were killed in a landslide on a mountain in the west of the country.

Seven people were missing.

The storm hit a region that had not yet recovered from the aftermath of "Eta".

The level four hurricane hit land in Nicaragua just under two weeks ago.

At least 174 people died, 74 of them in Honduras and 46 in Guatemala.

Almost a hundred residents of a buried village in Guatemala were still missing.

Thousands of families lost their homes, and according to the World Vision children's aid organization, 1.5 million people urgently needed humanitarian aid even before Iota arrived.

Sad record

"Iota" was the 30th storm of the year strong enough to be named.

The previous record was 28 a year.

So many strong storms have formed this season that the 21 designated names have long been used up.

For this reason, meteorologists used the Greek alphabet for the first time in 15 years.

There were also an unusually high number of strong storms towards the end of the season, which lasts from June to November.

According to experts, the increasing intensity of tropical cyclones is a consequence of climate change.

As the German Weather Service (DWD) reports, "Iota" was the first hurricane in the highest category five "in this record season".

In total, there have already been 13 hurricanes in the Atlantic.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), up to 50 centimeters of rain per square meter could fall in Honduras and parts of Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize.

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hba / dpa