Hurricane Eta slams ashore as Category 4 storm

The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began moving ashore in Nicaragua Tuesday with devastating winds and rains that had already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow.

The hurricane had sustained winds of 140 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, down from an overnight peak of 150 mph. Even before it made landfall, Honduras reported the first death after a mudslide trapped a 12-year-old girl in San Pedro Sula.

Tuesday afternoon, the Category 4 hurricane was still on the coast, about 15 miles south-southwest of coastal Puerto Cabezas or Bilwi, and it was moving west near 5 mph.

Landfall came hours after it had been expected. Eta’s eye had hovered just offshore through the night and Tuesday morning. The unceasing winds uprooted trees and ripped roofs apart, scattering corrugated metal through the streets of Bilwi, the main coastal city in the region. The city’s regional hospital abandoned its building, moving patients to a local technical school campus.

“It was an intense night for everyone in Bilwi, Waspam and the communities along the northern coast,” Yamil Zapata, local Bilwi representative of the ruling Sandinista Front, told local Channel 4 Tuesday.

About 10,000 people were in shelters in Bilwi and an equal number in smaller towns across the region, he said. The area had already been lashed with strong winds and heavy rain for hours.

The storm has been drenching neighboring Honduras with rains since at least Sunday and the country reported its first death attributed to Eta early Tuesday.