The hurricane Eta is strengthening in the southern Caribbean, the meteorological service said Monday. The powerful wind could become a major hurricane soon, moving towards Nicaragua, VoA reported.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reports that hurricane Eta is about 265 kilometers east-northeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. According to the forecast, storm Eta’s speed is about 17 kilometers per hour west that making it a strong Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
“Once inland, Eta should quickly weaken over the mountainous terrain of Nicaragua and Honduras,” the NHC said.
This is the first year any storm was named Eta, it is the 28th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, tying a record set in 2005. In 2020, the hurricane centre ran out of names in the conventional alphabet and had to resort to the Greek alphabet.
In fact, Eta’s centre is expecting the storm to rapidly intensify over the next 24 hours, saying the system could become a major Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches Nicaragua coast early Tuesday.
The Miami-based NHC said that through Thursday evening, torrential rains may lead to flooding across parts of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Central America. That, in turn, could spark landslides in areas of higher terrain.
The meteorological service suggests the storm’s current track will take in further inland over Central America over the next several days. It is expected to move slowly and could bring 35 to 63 cm of rain and life-threatening flash flooding conditions to the Central American countries like Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala by the end of the week.
Taking into account the character of Eta, landslides are possible in higher elevations. Normally, the hurricane season ends at the end of November.
The Nicaraguan government has issued a hurricane warning from the Honduras-Nicaragua border to Sandy Bay Sirpi. Honduras has put out a tropical storm warning from Punta Patuca to the border with Nicaragua.
