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Hurricane Iota powers up in new threat to Central America

Published:Monday | November 16, 2020 | 9:27 AM
A pregnant woman is carried out of an area flooded by water brought by Hurricane Eta in Planeta, Honduras, Thursday, November 5, 2020. The storm that hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday had become more of a vast tropical rainstorm, but it was advancing so slowly and dumping so much rain that much of Central America remained on high alert. (AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Fast-strengthening Hurricane Iota, the strongest hurricane yet in this record-smashing season, became very dangerous Category 4 on Monday as it approached the same part of Central America battered by a similarly powerful Hurricane Eta just over a week ago.

Hurricane Iota gained 70 miles per hour in strength in 24 hours, going from 85 miles per hour Sunday morning to a monstrous 155 miles per hour Monday morning.

Forecasters predicted it would become an even more catastrophic Category 5 hurricane by the time it reaches the coast.

Authorities warned that Iota would probably come ashore over areas where Eta’s torrential rains saturated the soil, leaving it prone to new landslides and floods, and that the storm surge could reach a shocking 12 to 18 feet above normal tides.

Evacuations were being conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their shared border, which appeared to be Iota’s likely landfall.

Winds and rain were already being felt on the Nicaraguan coast Sunday night.

Iota became a hurricane early Sunday and rapidly gained more power.

It was expected to pass over or near Colombia’s Providencia island during the night, and the US National Hurricane Center warned it would probably reach the Central America mainland late Monday.

The hurricane center said Iota was centred about 20 miles off Isla de Providencia, Colombia, and 145 miles  southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border, and moving westward at 10 miles per hour.

Iota is the record 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season. 

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