ReliefWeb

Millions suffering from Eta’s consequences are now on the brink of facing a second major storm in as many weeks, with Hurricane Iota bearing down on Central America’s Caribbean coasts on a path virtually identical to that of Eta and setting up a potentially catastrophic scenario upon its projected landfall as a Category 5 storm. Iota, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season’s 30th named storm, is currently a Category 4 hurricane featuring maximum sustained winds of 245 km/h and is forecast to bring rainfall of up to 400mm in Honduras, northern Nicaragua, Guatemala and southern Belize. These conditions will bring significant, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding, along with landslides in higher elevation areas, risks that are compounded by high soil saturations from Eta. (OCHA, 17 Nov 2020)

Hurricane Iota made landfall over northern Nicaragua early on 17 November as a Category 4 storm, reaching sufficient intensity to qualify as the strongest Atlantic hurricane in 2020, the busiest season ever recorded and the only season ever to see two major hurricanes in November. Although Iota has since degraded to remnants of a tropical depression, persistent rains over areas reeling from Eta's impact have caused added flooding and landslides, increasing official counts of people affected and people in shelters in various countries and growing government-led response efforts to account for the newly affected. (OCHA, 18 Nov 2020)