MANAGUA/TEGUCIGALPA: Storm Eta pounded Nicaragua and Honduras with torrential rain on Wednesday after unleashing major floods and landslides over Central America, reportedly killing at least three people and stranding dozens of fishermen in the Atlantic.
Eta, one of the most powerful storms to strike Central America in years, hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, before weakening to a tropical storm as it forged inland in the impoverished country.
Homes, roads and key infrastructure were battered by the force of the winds and thousands of people evacuated.
The deluge was so extreme in the northern Honduran city of El Progreso that a prison was flooded to waist level, a wall collapsed and the facility’s 604 inmates were transferred to local gyms, police commissioner Juan Molina told local television.
Nicaraguan media reported that two wildcat miners were killed by a mudslide. In Honduras, a 13-year-old girl died in a landslide on her home, the fire department said.
On Tuesday, about 60 fishermen were trapped out at sea in the eastern Mosquitia region of Honduras, according to Robin Morales, a representative of the local population.
So far, the Navy has not been able to attempt rescuing the fishermen due to the dangerous weather conditions, said Douglas Espinal, head of the fire of the fire department in the port of Puerto Lempira.
Eta could dump 15-25 inches (38-64 cm) of rain on central and northern Nicaragua and much of Honduras, with up to 40 inches in some areas, according to the latest NHC forecasts.
The storm knocked down trees and power lines and caused serious flooding in northern Nicaragua, national disaster management agency SINAPRED said Tuesday. Still, Vice President Rosario Murillo said the initial damage was less than feared.
In Honduras, rivers burst their banks, towns and cities on the Atlantic coast flooded, and landslides hit roads.
In Guatemala, the rains felled trees and unleashed landslides onto roads, authorities said.
Eta is now forecast to advance further into Honduras on Wednesday before barreling over Belize and back out into the Caribbean over Cuba toward the end of the week. It is predicted to reach Florida as a tropical storm by Monday, the NHC said.
Eta is the 28th named tropical storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, tying a record set in 2005, the NHC said.
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