MIAMI • Hurricane Eta, one of the most powerful storms to hit Central America in years, struck Nicaragua's Caribbean coast early yesterday in one of the country's poorest areas, unleashing heavy rain that stoked fears of deadly floods in the region.
The head of Nicaragua's disaster management agency, Mr Guillermo Gonzalez, said that Eta ploughed ashore near the port of Puerto Cabezas, pulling roofs off houses, knocking down trees and power lines and causing flooding in the region.
Eta, an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, has brought "catastrophic" winds to Nicaragua, said the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC).
Shortly before the Nicaraguan government announced the arrival of the powerful storm, Eta was blowing sustained winds of 233kmh, according to the NHC.
The northern indigenous regions directly in Eta's path are some of Nicaragua's poorest. Many people live in wooden homes that stand little chance against such a powerful storm.
On Monday, local Catholic priest Javier Plat said there was a citywide power outage in Puerto Cabezas and government-arranged shelters had reached capacity. "This city of 70,000 people is very vulnerable. We have houses made of wood and adobe (dried mud bricks)."
Nicaragua on Monday evacuated at least 3,000 families, including fishermen who live in the most vulnerable villages on the Atlantic coast, officials said.
The storm is forecast to move inland over northern Nicaragua and hit central Honduras tomorrow. Once it hits the mountains of Nicaragua and Honduras, it should weaken rapidly, the NHC said.
Eta could trigger destructive waves in Nicaragua, while water levels could reach 4.3m to 6.4m above normal tide levels, the NHC said. Between 38cm to 64cm of rain is forecast for central and northern Nicaragua and much of Honduras, it added.
The storm could test Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who governs one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Mr Ortega's government had issued red alerts in several regions in the path of the hurricane.
On Monday, several ports in neighbouring Honduras, where the government had carried out evacuations, were forced to shut amid reports of floods.
El Salvador also evacuated citizens as a precaution.
Eta is the 28th named tropical storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, tying an all-time record set in 2005, said the NHC's Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch.
REUTERS
