Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update (3-9 October 2022) as of 11 October

CENTRAL AMERICA: HURRICANE JULIA

KEY FIGURES

28 PEOPLE DEAD ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA

561K+ PEOPLE AFFECTED IN GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS

Before dissipating on 10 October, Hurricane Julia left at least 28 people dead across Central America. Julia drenched the region with torrential rains that triggered floods and landslides, compounding the already devasting impacts of an active rainy season. While assessments are still in their early stages, it is apparent that Julia’s impacts have been quite severe, especially in northern Central America, with reports of significant damage to housing and related displacement, agriculture as well as health and educational infrastructure. Both El Salvador and Guatemala have declared national emergencies.

Hurricane Julia made landfall on 9 October on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category 1 storm, though it quickly weakened into a tropical storm later that afternoon. Julia hit Nicaragua on a path much like that of Eta and Iota in 2020 which wrought havoc across the country, especially in the North and South autonomous regions, home to indigenous populations still recovering from the 2020 hurricane season. As of 10 October, more than 195,150 households are still without power in Nicaragua while some 31,170 people lack access to drinking water.

After exiting Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, Julia battered El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala with heavy rains, damaging scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands. In Honduras, where tens of thousands have already been affected by the rainy season, the passage of Julia affected some 103,960 people. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Guatemala some 457,300 people have been affected, adding to the more than 4.8 million already affected by the rainy season in Guatemala.

Before pommeling northern Central America, Julia triggered flooding and landslides in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Julia’s passage from the Atlantic Basin into the Eastern Pacific is a rare feat only realized by around a dozen tropical cyclones since 1950, including Tropical Storm Bonnie in July this year.
In the coming days, the remnants of Julia could still bring heavy rains over southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, raising concerns about high soil saturation and related hazards, like landslides.