Iota threatens to wallop Honduras, Nicaragua
A fast-strengthening Hurricane Iota sweeping over the western Caribbean became a very dangerous Category 5 storm Monday, taking aim at Central American countries still reeling from Hurricane Eta’s devastating landfall that killed more than 120 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless less than two weeks ago.
Evacuations were being conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their border, which appeared to be Iota’s likely landfall. Winds and rain were already being felt on the Nicaraguan coast Sunday night.
The hurricane center said Iota had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph at 4 p.m. EST. It was centered about 100 miles south-southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border, moving west at 9 mph.
Iota is the 13th hurricane of the season, two shy of the record 15 set in 2005 but the record-breaking 30th named storm of this historic hurricane season.
The core of Iota was forecast to move across the Caribbean on Sunday and make landfall in northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras on Monday night, the Hurricane Center said.
Eta was a Category 4 storm when it made landfall in Nicaragua on Nov. 3 before tearing a wide path of destruction through Honduras and Guatemala the next day. Entire communities remain underwater.
The death toll in Honduras alone was estimated at more than 50, with damage from the torrential rains, catastrophic flooding and devastating landslides estimated at more than $5 billion. Tent cities line many streets where homes remain unlivable.
Eta also swept across much of the U.S. South, dumping heavy rain across parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after landfall Thursday north of Tampa Bay.
“It is possible that Iota could track north of Honduras, allowing the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Eta to be spared,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller. “But it’s even more likely that Honduras and Nicaragua take a direct hit from Iota.”
Nicaragua and Honduras issued hurricane warnings amid concerns that some already sodden areas could be swamped by a storm surge of up to 20 feet and rainfall totals of up to 30 inches.
Iota’s name marks the deepest the NHC has ever gotten into the Greek alphabet during one storm season.