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(CNN Español) – The passage of Hurricane Iota, now a tropical storm, was devastating. The powerful cyclone reached category 5, the largest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and hit the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia with its powerful winds. It landed in Nicaragua as Category 4 and continues its path of destruction through Central America. This is what we know.
San Andrés and Providencia felt the first impacts
The Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia suffered severe damage from the winds of Hurricane Iota, which shook the area with all the force of its winds, storm surges and torrential rains. Weather conditions have made communication with the islands difficult, but videos of the cyclone catastrophe are beginning to emerge.
Such a powerful hurricane has never reached the islands of San Andrés and Providencia, Colombian President Iván Duque said. The situation that caused Iota is unprecedented in the country, the president added.
WATCH: The effects of the powerful Hurricane Iota, Category 5, reach the islands of San Andrés and Providencia, Colombia
About 98 to 99 percent of the Colombian island’s infrastructure of Providencia was wiped out by Hurricane Iota, Duque said at a news conference Tuesday morning.
The president added that although the storm has already passed on the island, the sea conditions are still too difficult for the Navy ships to reach Providencia. Duque says he was able to personally fly over the island on Tuesday and will try to land on the island by helicopter later.
El Embrujo airport in Providencia is closed due to debris and, in an initial assessment, Duque claimed that at least one person died. So far there is no data on injuries, Duque explained, but he warned that preparation was needed
Duque explained that they will send 2 field hospitals and 4,000 tents to Providencia, as they assume the hospital has been destroyed
The Colombian president stressed that the damage in San Andrés was “considerably less” than in Providencia. According to Duque, there is also damage to homes, electrical systems and other services
San Andrés and Providencia have belonged to Colombia for centuries, but are closer to Central America than the mainland of the South American country.
Nicaragua and Honduras: strong winds and damage to telecommunications
The hurricane reached Category 5 force, but landed near the city of Haulover, Nicaragua, at 10:40 PM Miami time, as Category 4, with maximum sustained winds near 250 km / h, according to the Center. National Hurricane Hurricane (NHC). It has since weakened.
The storm surge expected along the Nicaraguan and Honduras coasts will be accompanied by “large and destructive waves”, along with floods that cause “life-threatening waves and disrupt current conditions,” according to the warning.
In Honduras, a group of people in a shelter (Yoseph Amaya / Getty Images)
Telcor, the telecommunications and postal services regulator in Nicaragua, reported on Tuesday that it had “severe effects” on telecommunications in the Puerto Cabezas municipality because Columbus Networks, a broadband provider, was out of service for a while. flood in his plant, located in Puerto Cabezas. The disruption directly affects the operators serving this area, who rely on the fiber optic service provided by Columbus.
The crews have been coordinated with specialized technical personnel to repair damage to the infrastructure, which will mobilize according to the weather conditions, they said.
In a press release published on the website of the National System for Disaster Prevention and Attention (Sinapred), it also reported “power failure, optical fiber cuts due to strong winds and falling poles and radio links misaligned by the force of twenty”.
Nicaragua’s disaster management agency SINAPRED says no casualties have yet been reported following Hurricane Iota which landed on Tuesday.
SINAPRED said on its official Twitter account that several municipalities in the Rivas region of southwestern Nicaragua were hit by the hurricane.
#Huracanlota 🚨🌀🇳🇮
This is what some houses and courtyards look like #Bilwi after the passage of the hurricane. The invitation to families to remain calm, to stay away from vulnerable places or places that represent a danger to human safety.#SinapredWe are all #PreventIsLive pic.twitter.com/fdEcYULO0G
– Official CD-SINAPRED (@cdsinapred) November 17, 2020
In the Rivas region, authorities are monitoring the high volume of major river currents and have placed the most vulnerable families in shelters, SINAPRED said.
The disaster management agency has released photos of damaged homes in Bilwi, Puerto Cabezas, on Nicaragua’s northern Caribbean coast. SINAPRED said preliminary information reports fallen trees in the area, fallen power lines and roofs, but there are still no reports of casualties. The agency urged the citizens of Bilwi to remain calm and stay away from any vulnerable or dangerous places.
In Honduras, Copeco’s National Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismic Studies (Cenaos) warned that the rains will be “dangerous and deadly” despite Iota being downgraded. They predict that the cloud belts and circulation associated with the phenomenon will produce intermittent and widespread rains and showers in most of the country.
Wind conditions with a hurricane force greater than 120 km / h keep a hurricane warning in effect from Cabo de Gracias to Dios to Barra Patuca in the department of Gracias in Dios, as well as for the entire Caribbean coast of Honduras and the Islas de la Baia.
Tropical storm monitoring was issued, predicting waves of “4-6 feet with highs of 8 feet and winds with tropical storm strength between 63 and 118 km / h”.
Immediately and urgently, mandatory evacuations must be carried out in the dangerous areas of the following departments:
Thanks God
Atlantis
Cuts
Colon
Yoro
Francisco Morazán
Olancho
Heaven
Choluteca
Valley
All areas were affected by the ETA
Guatemala: 124 municipalities at high or medium risk for Hurricane Iota
Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Coordinator (Conred) has identified 124 municipalities at high or medium risk of Iota flooding. In a statement they reported that of these 59 are at high risk, most of them in the department of Alta Verapaz, in the north of the country. About 65 are at medium risk of flooding. In the early hours of this Tuesday, Conred reported the rain record on some northern regions of the country. There are currently no incidents associated with Iota.
They added that for the next few hours “the persistence of a cloudy sky with intermittent rain and drizzle is expected, mainly in the departments of Petén, Izabal, northern section and central and eastern regions of the country”. The report concludes that significant rainfall accumulations could occur in these regions.
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