Hurricane Iota devastated Central America

Storm Iota threatens to worsen the situation in areas of Central America devastated a fortnight ago by Cyclone Eta, which left some 1,890 houses destroyed and another 8,030 partially damaged. 

This new hurricane represents a "deadly threat" to Central America, with risks of "torrential rains," "extremely violent winds" and "dangerous coastal flooding," according to Reuters.

The fury of the powerful Category 4 Hurricane Iota, with winds of 250 kilometres per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), has blown roofs off homes, collapsed power lines and flooded streets in Nicaragua's northern Caribbean, where the cyclone made landfall Monday night. 

Iota made landfall on the night of Monday 16th to Tuesday 17th November in Central America, north of Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, an area already devastated by Hurricane Eta a fortnight ago. 

In a preliminary report, authorities report strong wind gusts, rainfall, falling trees, falling light poles and falling roofs that have yet to be quantified. 

Tens of thousands of people have been preemptively evacuated to Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala who have not yet recovered from the Eta crossing. El Salvador has also declared itself on high alert.

Eta has deprived hundreds of thousands of people of their homes and caused enormous damage to infrastructure. Some 2.5 million people have been affected, according to official estimates. The International Federation of the Cross and Red Crescent has issued a warning about the potential disaster in Iota after the passage of the Eta storm.

The torrential rains in Iota will fall on the flooded land and on the populations already affected by the floods and landslides. According to Efe, Iota entered near Haulover, where some 350 families with 1,750 people live, mostly indigenous people of Miskito origin, a community involved in artisanal fishing and tourism, who were all evacuated and where there are still no reports of damage. 

The arrival of Iota in the wake of Hurricane Eta less than a fortnight ago marks the first time that two major hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic basin in November since records began. 

In its passage through Central America, tropical storm Iota left at least 35 dead, 18 of them in Nicaragua. The cyclone also killed two people in the Colombian archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, one in Panama and the other in El Salvador. 

The arrival of Iota in the San Andres and Providencia archipelago was seen by the Colombians as a tragedy. The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, reported from there the death of a person in San Andrés and the probable destruction of 98% of the infrastructure in Providencia. 

The arrival of Iota is the latest and perhaps most serious component of an unprecedented crisis for this Colombian archipelago. With deep problems of hospital and road infrastructure, its figures for poverty or inequality are lower than those of the rest of the country, labour informality and corruption are greater. 

Honduras reported that more than 80,000 people were evacuated and distributed among 250 shelters throughout the country. In Honduras. The Honduran government ordered the closure of the country's main roads until Wednesday morning in view of the risk of rivers overflowing. 

The Salvadoran government mourned the death of a motorcyclist after a tree fell due to strong gusts of wind. A total of 813 people were evacuated from risk areas and placed in 230 shelters. 

The Nicaraguan town of Puerto Cabezas, which was still partially flooded and filled with the debris left by the Eta storm less than a fortnight ago, again took the brunt of the blow. The frightened inhabitants took refuge in shelters. According to Reuters, the power cuts and the cuts in telephone and Internet services make it impossible to assess the real extent of the tragedy. 

"It is now 12 hours since communication with the city of Bilwi, Puerto Cabezas, was lost. Nicaragua is the scene of overflowing rivers, fallen bridges and flooded villages. 33 municipalities are without internet or telephony," Nicaraguan journalist Ismael López told BBC Mundo on Tuesday afternoon.