Hurricane Eta hit the Nicaraguan coast on Tuesday in the northeastern part of the country, near the border with Honduras.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) indicates that it remains category 4, even though its maximum sustained winds decreased to 140 miles per hour (220 kilometers per hour).
Eta's eye is skirting the north coast of Nicaragua and is only moving at a speed of 3 miles per hour (6 km / h), which makes it even more dangerous, according to the latest NHC bulletin.
In the area of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, strong gusts of wind tore off roofs, damaged thousands of structures, collapsed power lines and toppled trees.
Several areas of Nicaragua and Honduras were already on alert since Saturday, after Eta took the form of a tropical storm in the Caribbean.
Quickly,
the system strengthened into a hurricane and acquired the capacity for devastation
.
The NHC anticipates that there will be "catastrophic" damage in the area where Eta reached the Nicaraguan coast due to the winds, flash floods as a result of the expected heavy rains, possible landslides and a "dangerous storm surge."
[Eta becomes a hurricane and approaches the coast of Nicaragua]
Heavy rains have also caused flooding in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala while it is also expected to affect Belize, Panama, Costa Rica, as well as other areas of Central America.
Animated satellite image of Hurricane Eta in the hours prior to its impact with the coast of Nicaragua.
NHC / NOAA
Preparations in Nicaragua with the living memory of Mitch
With the memory still alive of the devastating Hurricane Mitch, which exactly 22 years ago left thousands of deaths as it passed through Central America, Nicaragua prepared on Monday to receive the impact of Eta.
The Nicaraguan government declared a red alert on Monday in the North Caribbean region, where the Naval Force evacuated the day before some 1,650 inhabitants of the Miskitos Cays, located off the North Caribbean coast, in light of the danger that the cyclone would
hit with great intensity the area
.
[Storm Eta advances in the Caribbean. It can hit Central America as a hurricane on Tuesday]
According to Guillermo González, director of the National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (Sinapred), the
evacuees were taken to “solidarity houses”
in Bilwi, also called Puerto Cabezas, where some 66,000 people live.
People evacuated before the arrival of Hurricane Eta to Nicaragua.EFE
A similar number of people live in indigenous communities located on the North Caribbean coast and on the banks of the Coco River, which in that area forms part of the border with Honduras.
Although it no longer has the flow of decades ago, the river often overflows when there are storms.
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In the Rio Coco area, most of the houses in some 50 Miskito communities on the banks are built with bamboo and palm, which makes them extremely vulnerable.
Hurricane Eta hits northeast Nicaragua as a category 4 cyclone Getty Images
After making landfall, Eta is expected to move over the mountains of northern Nicaragua.
For this reason, the Government decreed
since Saturday a preventive alert throughout the country
and a surveillance alert in the northern Caribbean region and in the northern provinces of Jinotega and Nueva Segovia.
A season with at least 28 named storms
Eta is the 28th Atlantic named storm this season, and its formation tied the number of named storms recorded in 2005. However, this is the first time the Greek letter eta has been used as a storm name.
[Zeta makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane in Louisiana. It is the fifth storm to hit the state in 2020]
There is just under a month left of hurricane season,
until November 30
.
In 2005, Storm Zeta formed in late December, after the season.
This year, of the 28 named storms, 11 have become hurricanes and five have been considered force majeure, that is, Category 3 or more.
With information from The Associated Press.