Honduras and Nicaragua prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Iota

Honduras remains on the highest emergency alert before the arrival of Hurricane Iota, which would be entering Nicaragua on Monday, causing heavy rains in the two countries,

, which reached category 4 on the scale Saffir-Simpson.

In principle, the forecasts of the state Permanent Commission of Contingencies (Copeco) were that Iota would enter the department of Gracias a Dios, in the Caribbean, adjacent to Nicaragua, but on Friday, based on reports from the National Hurricane Center ( NHC) was reported to have changed course.

Now,

, in the eastern part of the country, leaving a lot of rain in that region, as well as in the south and center, although it is expected to leave damage in all the territory, said this Sunday the head of Copeco, Max González.

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Iota has maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour

(150 kilometers per hour), but NHC meteorologists predict that by the time it approaches the coasts of Nicaragua and northeastern Honduras, possibly Monday night, it will be a major hurricane, that is, grade 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale (out of a maximum of 5).

Downtown Iota is located 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Providencia, Colombia, and 285 miles southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras.

According to the latest NHC report on Sunday afternoon, it was moving at nine miles per hour (15 kilometers per hour) heading west.

Multiple people wade through a flooded road on Thursday, November 5, 2020 after the passage of Hurricane Eta, in Planeta, Honduras.

(AP Photo / Delmer Martínez) AP

In Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, Saturday and Sunday have been days of many people supplying in supermarkets, in the face of the impending emergency.

"We don't know what will happen, that's why we are supplying ourselves with food and water

," teacher Enrique Cáceres, who lives in the Morazán neighborhood, told the Efe news agency, crossed by a stream that causes damage to the area when it floods.

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Honduras is also suffering another emergency, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left more than 2,800 dead, while infections exceed 102,000.

While it was still a storm, Iota had already reached the record as the 30th named storm of this extraordinary Atlantic hurricane season.

The myriad of phenomena like this have focused attention on 

which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive systems.

Iota threatens to 

in a region where people continue to deal with the devastation of Eta.

This meteor struck Nicaragua just a week ago as a Category 4 hurricane, killing 

as torrential rains caused flooding and landslides in parts of Central America and Mexico.

It then passed through Cuba, the Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall again at Cedar Key, Florida, and hitting Florida and the Carolinas.

With information from EFE