MANAGUA – Nicaraguan authorities issued a hurricane warning on Sunday as Tropical Storm Eta gathered force over the Caribbean and was expected to make landfall in a few days as a Category One hurricane.
Eta is likely to intensify to hurricane strength by the time it reaches Nicaragua's northeastern Caribbean coast late Monday, the director of the country's Meteorological Institute, Marcio Baca, told reporters.
The storm is expected to make landfall over northeastern Nicaragua at dawn on Tuesday before wringing itself out as it sweeps inland over Honduras.
"The winds could reach 120 kilometers an hour before impact at some point between Cabo Gracias a Dios" – on the border with Honduras – "and the city of Bilwi," the main town in Nicaragua's northern Caribbean region, Baca said.
Heavy rains and significant coastal storm surges are expected in Nicaragua and Honduras.
The head of the national System for Disaster Prevention, Guillermo Gonzalez, said families living in the Miskito Cays off Nicaragua's northeastern coast were being evacuated.
El Salvador is also keeping a watchful eye on Eta, and the government has warned of heavy rains throughout the country.
Authorities in Costa Rica have also declared a rain alert. – AFP, November 2, 2020
