The devastating winds of Hurricane Iota are already being felt in Nicaragua

The front end of Hurricane Iota began to hit the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast this Monday night as a Category 5 hurricane.

However, shortly after its center made landfall,

, as reported by the National Hurricane Center in its last warning at 10:00 p.m. , Eastern Time.

Authorities warn that it remains an extremely powerful cyclone.

 “The strongest part of the hurricane started to hit the rim around 4:00 pm [CT].

At this moment, the wall of the storm, the center, the eye of the hurricane, is touching the limit of the Haulover coast, "said Marío Baca, meteorology director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies, according to the newspaper La Prensa. .

"It is the most powerful hurricane that has made Nicaraguan land since we have records of tropical cyclones

,

said Baca.

Haulover, an indigenous community, is located 17 kilometers from Bilwi, where Hurricane Eta made landfall two weeks ago, bringing winds of 140 miles per hour on that occasion.

In Puerto Cabezas, as the Bilwi area is also known, the walls of the phenomenon caused powerful gusts of wind and heavy rains were recorded since Monday afternoon.

There, storm

is expected to

(six meters) above normal tides.

Satellite image of Hurricane Iota provided by NOAA, off the coast of Nicaragua, on November 16, 2020.

Authorities have warned that torrential rains from Iota will pour onto the soil saturated by Eta, causing further flooding and more landslides.

[Alert in Central America for the arrival of Category 5 hurricane Iota]

Nicaraguan Vice President

.

Nicaragua and Honduras maintain a red alert for the entire Caribbean zone and the north, where the powerful cyclone is believed to cause heavy rains, river overflows, landslides and floods.

Honduran authorities reported Sunday night that 63,500 people were in 379 shelters in the northern coastal region alone.

In Bilwi, Nicaragua, where about 60,000 people live, people anxiously awaited the impact of the cyclone amid still intermittent rain and winds that increased in force by the minute.

This area was punished 13 days ago by Eta.

“The situation is not looking good at all.

We woke up without electricity, with rain and the tide was rising very high, ”

Yasmina Wriedt, a resident of the El Muelle neighborhood

, told

news agency

from her small house on the beach, an area always vulnerable to storms and swells.

[Guatemala has not yet recovered from the damage caused by Eta as Hurricane Iota looms]

The woman, who works in the artisanal fishing organization called Piquinera, says her home lost its roof due to the impact of Hurricane Eta on November 3.

People are seen on the roof of a house after the passage of Storm Eta, in La Lima, Honduras, November 7, 2020.REUTERS

"We repaired it as best we could, but now I think the wind will blow it away again, because they say (Iota) is even stronger," he

said.

Iota became a hurricane early Sunday morning and quickly gained more power.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that it would likely hit mainland Central America by Monday night.

in this year's extraordinary Atlantic hurricane season.

It is also the ninth rapidly intensifying storm this season, a dangerous phenomenon that occurs with increasing frequency.

This activity has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms.

With information from The Associated Press and La Prensa.