Hurricane Eta slams into Nicaragua as Category Four storm

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) —
The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began moving ashore in Nicaragua Tuesday with devastating winds and rains that had already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow.

The hurricane had sustained winds of 220 kph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, down from an overnight peak of 240 kph.

Even before it made landfall, Honduras reported the first death after a mudslide trapped a 12-year-old girl in San Pedro Sula.

Tuesday afternoon, the Category 4 hurricane was still on the coast and was moving west near 7 kph.

Landfall came hours after it had been expected.

Eta’s eye had hovered just offshore through the night and Tuesday morning. The unceasing winds uprooted trees and ripped roofs apart, scattering corrugated metal through the streets of Bilwi, the main coastal city in the region.

The city’s regional hospital abandoned its building, moving patients to a local technical school campus.

About 10,000 people were in shelters in Bilwi and an equal number in smaller towns across the region, he said. The area had already been lashed with strong winds and heavy rain for hours.

The storm has been drenching neighbouring Honduras with rains since at least Sunday and the country reported its first death attributed to Eta early Tuesday.

Eta is the 28th named Atlantic storm this season, tying the 2005 record for named storms.

It’s the first time the Greek letter Eta has been used as a storm name because after the 2005 season ended, meteorologists went back and determined a storm that should have been named wasn’t.

Hurricane season ends on November 30.

In 2005, Zeta formed toward the end of December.

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