Hurricane Eta sows death in South America and now threatens Cuba and Florida- Corriere.it

Hurricane Eta, now downgraded to a simple tropical depression, continues its progression in Central America, leaving behind more than 63 dead and thousands of injured, and on Friday it will strengthen in the Caribbean Sea to threaten Cuba, Jamaica and Florida. . More than 50 people died in indigenous villages in northern Guatemala as a result of landslides caused by the storm, the country’s President Alejandro Giammattei said Thursday. Eta also killed five people in Panama, four in Honduras, two in Costa Rica, two in Nicaragua. “By Monday morning, heavy rains caused by Eta will cause catastrophic and dangerous flash floods in parts of Central America, as well as landslides,” warned the US Hurricane Monitoring Center (NHC).

Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Florida threatened

NHC expects Eta to buy power on Friday

inwarm waters of the Caribbean Sea, and that will threaten the southeast of Mexico during the weekend, then Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the south of Florida. Shelters have been opened in Guatemala to accommodate the victims, as in Morales (northeast). “My whole house has been filled with water. I have lost everything. My chickens and my pig were washed away by the flooding of the river, ”shouts Eliseo Gonzales, a retired driver who has taken refuge in the Morales stadium.

Red alert in Honduras

In Honduras, the San Pedro Sula Valley, the country’s second largest city and industrial capital, is flooded with water and people have taken refuge on the roofs of their houses. Many bridges and roads were disrupted by floods, landslides, or landslides. Torrential rains affected 338,563 people in Honduras, of which 2,764 were evacuated: the government agency Copeco for disasters reported. Authorities have put the country on a red alert (maximum) and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has ordered the army to mobilize its helicopters and boats to evacuate the affected populations. Eta, a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 240 km / h, arrived Tuesday morning near Bilwi, the main city on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. Much of the port facilities, essential for economic activity and supply in the region, have been destroyed, said Virgilio Silva, the port’s national manager. Residents continued on Thursday to clear debris and take stock of the damage in Bilwi, where some 40,000 people live, mostly Miskito Indians, Afro-descendants and mestizos. The rough seas, however, prevented Thursday’s rescues from reaching the most affected coastal indigenous peoples that could only be reached by sea: some 20,000 inhabitants had been evacuated in advance, according to Nicaraguan authorities. Heavy rains are also affecting much of Costa Rica, where they have caused flooding in the Pacific region, according to the National Emergency Commission (CNE). The floods in Costa Rica have forced the evacuation of 1,361 people to shelters and the villages are isolated from the world, said civil security. Panama is also severely affected by the rains associated with Eta and more than 300 families have had to be relocated, Panamanian security reported. El Salvador has maintained the red alert: 26 streets have been closed and 1,190 people have been evacuated.