Strike of the storm leaves serious damages on the island

Intense rains, strong winds, falling trees and storm surges are some of the effects that the lash of Hurricane Eta has left in the last hours in the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia.

The effects of the tropical storm have been felt on the islands since Monday night, after it strengthened in the western Caribbean Sea and reached category 4.

According to the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, Ideam, the center of the cyclone made landfall in Central America with winds that reached approximately 220 km / h.

As a result of the Eta pass, in San Andrés, maximum winds of 33 km / h have been registered, with gusts of up to 54 km / h.

Images of some of the effects caused by the hurricane in the Colombian archipelago have been known through social networks.

The Ideam confirmed that during the next hours the cloudy conditions will continue “with precipitations, electrical activity and intense winds with gusts and swells.”

The entity asked the community to be alert to alerts and recommendations issued by the authorities, to have a briefcase with essential items and identification documents on hand, as well as to look for safe shelters against electrical storms and strong winds.

For their part, local authorities maintain decisions such as the closure of beaches and the prohibition of nautical activities while weather conditions do not improve.

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Emergencies in Nicaragua

Eta hit Nicaragua’s North Caribbean with strong winds and rains, where it impacted on Tuesday, causing floods, road blocks and river overflows in impoverished cities and villages in that region.

The hurricane entered near the coast of Bilwi, the main city in the North Caribbean of Nicaragua with category 4, said the director of Meteorology of the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies, Ineter, Marcio Baca, at a press conference.

According to Baca, the cyclonic system will finish entering the remainder of Tuesday south of Bilwi, in the coastal community of Halouver.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Oscar Mojica, said that “there is a fall of quite a few trees and a strong impact on traffic” throughout the region.

The mighty Wawa River, which links Bilwi to the rest of the country, is overflowing.

At the moment there are no known fatalities in Nicaragua, authorities said.

“Enough destruction”

The hurricane, which evolved rapidly on Monday in the warm waters of the Caribbean, tore off many roofs of houses in the region, where the population of indigenous and Afro-descendant origin has been suffering the furious effects of the cyclone since Monday afternoon.

“Bilwi is very affected, there are surrounding neighborhoods and bridges flooded, many houses without roofs and the situation continues because the hurricane continues its passage into the territory very slowly,” said the volunteer of community organizations, Kevin González.

“It was a night of terror because the strong gusts of wind generated a sound as if it were a tractor demolishing everything in its path,” Joel Quin, 35, a Bilwi neighbor, told AFP.

Giovany Nelson, 34, said he stayed with his family “locked in a room listening to how the wind destroyed the ceiling.” The magnitude of the storm “surprised us and filled us with anxiety.”

The winds damaged the walls and roof of the Bilwi baseball stadium, many trees fell on the streets at dawn, while cows and domestic animals roam the city lost, observed an AFP team at the scene.

At the moment there are no known fatalities in Nicaragua, authorities said.

Eta made landfall on Tuesday afternoon in the city of Bilwi, on the north coast of Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo stated that Eta “has not been as catastrophic in material damage as expected.”

The government sent a shipment of 88 tons of food to the North Caribbean, as well as crews to attend to emergencies with power lines, communications, infrastructure and health.

About 100,000 people live in Bilwi and the adjacent Caribbean communities, mostly indigenous people scattered in towns that have been affected by the hurricane, such as Tuapí, Krukira, Sandy Bay, Cabo Gracias a Dios, Prinzapolka, Wawabar, Karatá, Haulover, Wauhta , Kamwatla and Walpalsiksa.

In the coastal community of Prinzapolka, winds from Eta blew away zinc sheets from wooden houses, which flew off, Miskito teacher Kevin Lacwood told AFP.

The government reported that they managed to evacuate 20,000 people to safe houses or shelters.