The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (CNH) downgraded Julia to a tropical storm, hours after it made landfall in Nicaragua early this Sunday, near Laguna de Perlas, on the country’s South Caribbean Coast, according to the latest bulletin. of the site specializing in natural phenomena.
According to the CNH report, Julia continues to move through Nicaragua, putting life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in Central America and southern Mexico at risk.
“Julia is forecast to remain a tropical storm as it passes through Nicaragua today and reaches adjacent Pacific waters tonight,” the recently issued bulletin said.
Hurricane Julia lashed Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast on Sunday after pummeling the Colombian island of San Andres, with a weakened storm expected to emerge over the Pacific.
Julia struck as a Category 1 hurricane early Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph), though its winds had dropped to 70 mph (110 kph) by late morning as it moved across Nicaragua with heavy rain.
The US National Hurricane Center said Julia’s vortex was about 105 kilometers (65 miles) east-northeast of Managua, the capital, and was moving west at 24 kph (15 mph).
He said life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides were possible in Central America and southern Mexico through Tuesday, with the storm expected to bring up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain to isolated areas.
Colombia’s national disaster agency reported Sunday that Julia blew off the roofs of at least five houses and toppled trees, but no casualties were reported as it passed the island of San Andres in eastern Nicaragua.
In Nicaragua, authorities evacuated several thousand people from low-lying coastal areas and alerted all types of boats to seek safe harbor. Local media showed images of downed trees along highways.
Residents of the area published on social networks that the hurricane hit the Isla del Maíz and the Little Island of the Corn before hitting Laguna de Perlas with force, where it ripped off the roofs of precarious homes and caused power outages.
The hurricane was expected to gradually weaken as it crossed Nicaragua, emerging over the eastern Pacific on Sunday night. It was forecast to move near or along the Pacific coasts of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala on Monday and Monday night, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
“Life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides are possible due to heavy rains in Central America and southern Mexico through early next week,” the center said.
Thousands of evacuees in Nicaragua
After the arrival of the natural phenomenon, the director of the National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention (SINAPRED) Guillermo González, assured that around 6,000 to 7,000 people who were in vulnerable areas in Nicaragua were evacuated.
González explained that there are more than 300 shelters in the area where the hurricane hit, but there are also community brigades that were activated to assist in any emergency.
According to a report issued by the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER) at 6:00 AM (local time), Hurricane Julia is advancing over national territory with maximum sustained winds of 120 km per hour.
The Nicaraguan authorities anticipate that the natural phenomenon will lose its strength as it travels through the national territory.
It is estimated that the hurricane will leave the country into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, possibly at midnight on Sunday, where it could strengthen again, generating more rain in that region.
At the moment no human casualties are reported from the hurricane.
Miguel Ángel Herrera, owner of a boat in Bluefields, a city 40 kilometers from where the hurricane hit, went to one of the shelters and is serene.
“We have to be prepared, I have already experienced this with other hurricanes that have hit this area. The house fell on us, the zinc was blown away by the hurricane wind, so we have to take action,” Herrera told local media.
Due to the natural phenomenon, Nicaragua decreed a yellow alert throughout the country from Saturday at noon.
This would be the first hurricane of the 2022 season to directly hit Nicaragua.
In 2020, the Nicaraguan Caribbean suffered the ravages of two hurricanes: Eta and Iota, leaving thousands of dollars in damage to infrastructure, such as houses and roads.
Alert in the rest of Central America
The hurricane also forced the rest of the Central American countries to take security measures, such as in Honduras, a neighboring country to the north of Nicaragua, where a yellow alert was declared for 24 hours starting at 9:00 am on Saturday.
In El Salvador, the National Assembly decreed a State of Emergency for 15 days, due to the hurricane, reported La Prensa Gráfica. The declaration was signed by President Nayib Bukele.
Similarly, all academic activities were suspended for Monday.
According to local media in El Salvador, the government announced that it will have some 67 shelters ready.
[Con información de The Associated Press y Reuters]
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