Hurricane Iota strengthened this Monday to reach category 5 in its advance from the Atlantic Ocean towards Central America and threatens "extreme winds and potentially deadly storm surges" to the northeast coast of Nicaragua, as well as dangerous flash floods in other parts of the region that are far from recovering from the
effects of Eta
, a cyclone that left
261 deaths in six countries of the region 10 days ago.
The storm, which has been defined by the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) as a “catastrophic hurricane”, is expected to remain in Category 5 until it hits the Nicaraguan coast on Monday night. .
The first rains and gusts of Iota are already hitting the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, especially the city of Bilwi, where two weeks ago cyclone Eta caused damage, and where this Monday there were scenes of fear and frenzy: the inhabitants take out of the houses belongings, while authorities evacuate the most vulnerable areas.
In the Nicaraguan Caribbean, a very poor and isolated area, the feeling is that the elements do not give up.
The community members of Wawa Bar, a small town wiped off the map by Eta, began to rebuild on the ravages.
But since the weekend they began to be evacuated due to the threat of the new hurricane.
The Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (Ineter) estimates that the center of Iota will approach land on Monday night, with a probable landfall in the areas adjacent to Bilwi.
In some areas of Nicaragua, the red alert is still on since the Eta pass and the authorities warn that this new hurricane could affect tens of thousands of people.
“Some 80,000 families will be at risk of this phenomenon in 629 critical flood points and 424 landslides out of a total of 1,485,000 people exposed.
In the territory there are 1,299 shelters that are prepared if necessary depending on the progress of the event, ”said Guillermo González, director of the National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention (Sinapred).
According to information from Sinapred, more than 200 families from the Bihmona indigenous community were housed at the Once de Septiembre Institute in Waspam this weekend.
The two communities were mobilized by buses and 11 water resources, especially for the remote community of Cabo Gracias a Dios.
The food shortages are still evident in the shelters since Eta hit that area.
Potential "catastrophic effects" in Central America
Iota is expected to bring heavy rains and life-threatening flash floods in Central America through Tuesday, according to the NHC.
The agency warned that the risk of floods and landslides in some of these places may be accentuated by the effects of Hurricane Eta, which hit Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua with special force, which can generate "significant catastrophic effects."
# LoLast # HurricaneIOTA 🌀reaches category 5.
With sustained winds of 260 km / h it reaches the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
It is located 205 km southeast of Cabo de Gracias a Dios, it is expected to enter Nicaraguan soil tonight.
pic.twitter.com/rxtl71fuJX
- COPECO.HONDURAS (@HondurasCopeco) November 16, 2020
In addition to the more than 260 dead and dozens of disappeared, Eta left hundreds of thousands of displaced people, towns in Guatemala declared as "holy fields" due to the impossibility of carrying out rescue work and 20% of the population of Honduras without nothing to put in your mouth or a roof to protect yourself from the arrival of more water, according to the International Red Cross.
Eta hit the Caribbean coast of Central America hard two weeks ago as a Category 4 hurricane. It was later downgraded to a tropical storm, but strong winds and falling water for several days in a row caused flooding and landslides.
Iota is the thirteenth hurricane this season in the Atlantic, which is being unusually active.
