At sea on Friday, Ileta was centered in the Caribbean about 610 miles east of the Nicaragua-Honduras border, with a maximum sustained wind of 40 MPL by 10 p.m. Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.
In the forecast, Ayota vowed to move westward and land a landslide near the Honduras-Nicaragua border somewhere in Central America by the end of Monday, CNN meteorologist Tyler Mouldi said.
It is expected to be a hurricane at sea this weekend. By landfall, it is expected to be a major hurricane, with winds of at least one Class 3 – at least 111 miles per hour, the NHC said.
In addition to delivering harmful winds, Iota could receive 8 to 20 inches of rain over Honduras and northern Nicaragua during Wednesday, the NHC said – unpredictable news for the region submerged by Hurricane Ata last week.
Other areas will receive 3 to 10 inches of rain by Wednesday: Costa Rica, Panama, northern Colombia, southern Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador, the NHC said.
The NHC said Friday that the rains (from Iota) would lead to significant, deadly flash floods and river flooding, as well as landslides in highland areas.
The Atlantic hurricane is named Ota0th this year – the largest name ever for the Atlantic hurricane season.
Central America was devastated by Hurricane Erica
Eta crossed the category hurricane in northern Nicaragua in November and hit the country and Honduras, Guatemala and Belize for days with heavy rainfall. It caused landslides and severe flooding, and left numbers dead or missing.
The full duration of the damage caused by ETA will not be known for some time. But the powerful storm, linked to the coronavirus epidemic, may be remembered as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the region.
More than 3.3 million people in Central America have been affected by the hurricane to varying degrees, Red America said earlier this week.
Even before the storm, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala had poor public health systems struggling with Covid-19.
In thousands of shelters, and difficult from social distance, many fear the disease will spread. Hospitals there also now face the burden of fighting storms and other flood-related illnesses, from dengue to cholera to yellow fever.
CNN’s Matt Rivers, Natalie Galen and Taylor W. Ward contributed to this report.
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