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A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Iota on Saturday.
A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Iota on Saturday. Photograph: Rammb/Noaa/Nesdis/AFP/Getty Images
A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Iota on Saturday. Photograph: Rammb/Noaa/Nesdis/AFP/Getty Images

Tropical Storm Iota may bring more damage to Caribbean after Eta

This article is more than 3 years old

Storm may bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rain to Nicaragua and Honduras

Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean early on Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by Eta, a category 4 hurricane.

Iota is already a record-setting system, the 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinary Atlantic hurricane season. Such activity has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms.

Eta was the 28th named storm of this year’s season, tying the 2005 record. On Saturday Theta, the 29th, was weakening over the far-eastern Atlantic Ocean and was expected to become a remnant low, forecasters said.

The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Iota could bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rain to Nicaragua and Honduras, approaching their coasts as early as Monday. The system formed on Friday afternoon.

Early on Saturday, the storm was located about 340 miles south-south-east of Kingston, Jamaica, and had maximum sustained winds of 40mph. There were no coastal warnings or watches. Iota was moving to the west-south-west at 5mph.

It could wreak more havoc in a region where people are still grappling with the aftermath of Eta. That system hit Nicaragua last week as a category 4 hurricane, killing at least 120 as torrential rains brought flash floods and landslides to parts of Central America and Mexico.

On Saturday morning, Guatemalan authorities said a mudslide buried 10 people in the state of Chiquimula near the border with Honduras. Emergency workers have rescued two people and recovered three corpses so far. Five people are still missing.

The mudslide follows last week’s partial collapse of a mountain on to the village of Queja, in the central Guatemalan region of Alta Verapaz, which killed and buried alive dozens of residents.

President Alejandro Giammattei expressed on Saturday his concern about the approach of Iota, saying he has ordered evacuations for areas expected to be affected.

“We are concerned about the area of Alta Verapaz and Quiché. We believe that they are the areas where we could have the greatest impact,” said Giammattei. “We hope God helps us.”

In Honduras, where Eta killed 64 people and damaged roads, bridges and crops, President Juan Orlando Hernández on Saturday urged people in the path of Iota to evacuate to the nearest shelters.

“Iota is going to put our lives and our economy at risk again,” he said.
Residents of the community of Cruz de Valencia in north-western Honduras have begun evacuating.

“We have to get out, we have to save our lives,” said resident Erick Gomez, who said he only survived the flooding from the last hurricane by clinging to a tree to avoid being swept away by the rushing water.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Hurricane Iota wreaks havoc across Central America – in pictures

  • Hurricane Iota lashes Central America – video

  • Hurricane Iota hits Nicaragua threatening catastrophic damage

  • Hurricane Iota strengthens to catastrophic category 5 storm as it hits Central America

  • Scientists link record-breaking hurricane season to climate crisis

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