The force of Hurricane Eta is already felt in Nicaragua 3:07
(CNN) -
Eta, an extremely powerful hurricane, is already hitting northeast Nicaragua on Tuesday before possibly making landfall in a "catastrophic" way and what would likely be days of flooding and misery in parts of Central America, said the National Center for United States hurricanes.
At 6 a.m. on Tuesday (7 a.m. ET), the Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 230 kilometers per hour, focused on the Caribbean and was moving slowly towards the coast of Nicaragua, southeast of Puerto Cabezas, said the hurricane center.
Honduras also feels the force of Hurricane Eta
Storm gangs were already taking roofs off houses and felling trees Tuesday morning in Puerto Cabezas, a city in one of Nicaragua's poorest regions, Reuters reported, citing Guillermo González, the head of the management agency for nation disasters.
Nicaragua on red alert for hurricane Eta
A Catholic priest in that city told Reuters on Monday that the electricity supply was already cut off throughout the city and that the shelters set up by the government were full.
«This city of 70,000 inhabitants is very vulnerable.
We have houses made of wood and adobe, the infrastructure of the residential houses is our main vulnerability, ”priest Javier Plat told Reuters.
A hurricane warning went into effect Tuesday for a stretch of the Nicaraguan coast, from the southern border with Honduras to Sandy Bay Sirpi on the east-central Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
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"Catastrophic wind damage" is expected when the hurricane's center wall makes landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast on Tuesday, the hurricane center said.
A dangerous storm surge could also affect parts of Nicaragua, the poorest nation in Central America, the center said.
Alarm in Central America
The hurricane could create life-threatening conditions in Nicaragua and other Central American nations for days, the center said.
"This rain will lead to catastrophic and life-threatening flash floods and river flooding, along with landslides in areas of higher ground in Central America," the hurricane center said.
The current forecast calls for the hurricane to meander through the mountains of Nicaragua and Honduras before heading north to Belize on Friday as a tropical depression.
Eta's trajectory and intensity remain uncertain after Friday.
Slowly moving and rapidly intensifying Eta - its sustained wind speeds more than doubled in the Caribbean from Sunday night to Monday night - is the latest in a very active Atlantic hurricane season.
As the 28th named storm in the Atlantic this season, Eta ties the record for the number of named storms in a single season set in 2005.
Conditions deteriorate along the coast
Eta has the potential to cause one of the worst flood events Nicaragua has seen since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which killed more than 10,000 people.
Eta is expected to cause "catastrophic wind damage" wherever the hurricane's center wall makes landfall, the center said.
Torrential rains and the resulting flooding and landslides are expected to be among the main threats.
The threat of wind and storm surge should subside through Tuesday, but the rain will last well into the week.
Rain forecasts through Friday night, according to the National Hurricane Center:
Much of Nicaragua and Honduras: 15 to 63.5 centimeters, with isolated amounts up to 88.9 centimeters.
Eastern Guatemala and Belize: from 10 to 50.8 centimeters, with isolated amounts of up to 63.5 centimeters.
Parts of Panama and Costa Rica: 10 to 38.1 centimeters, with isolated amounts up to 63.5 centimeters.
Jamaica and southeastern Mexico: 5 to 25.4 centimeters, with isolated amounts up to 38.1 centimeters.
El Salvador, southern Haiti and the Cayman Islands: 3 to 12.7 centimeters, with isolated amounts up to 25.4 centimeters.
CNN's Madeline Holcombe, Hollie Silverman and Judson Jones contributed to this report.
Hurricane Eta
