MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began has moving ashore in Nicaragua with devastating winds and rains that have already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow.
And more days of rain are in the forecast. Eta is a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph and it made landfall after grinding for hours just off the coast.
Hurricane #Eta Advisory 12A: Eyewall of Extremely Dangerous Hurricane Eta Moving Onshore Along the Coast of Northeastern Nicaragua. https://t.co/VqHn0u1vgc
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 3, 2020
Authorities in Nicaragua and Honduras have moved people from outer islands and low-lying areas to shelters.
Residents also scrambled to shore up their homes, but few structures along Nicaragua’s remote Caribbean coast were built to withstand such force.
Eta is the 28th named storm in the Atlantic in 2020, this ties the record for most tracked storms in a year. However, this is the first time the name Hurricane Eta is being used, and only the second time the Greek alphabet has been needed once the list of names has been exhausted.
In 2005, the name Hurricane Eta was never used during the season. There was a storm formally added to the list of named storms in a post-season analysis by National Hurricane Center scientists. While only 27 "names" were used in 2005, there were technically 28 different storms identified and tracked by the NHC that year.
The last storm of 2005 formed in late December, and did not make landfall.