At least 4 killed after Hurricane Eta blasts Central America as Cat 4 storm

The death toll rose in Honduras and Nicaragua on Wednesday one day after Hurricane Eta made landfall as a destructive Category 4 storm. Eta's torrential rainfall caused serious flooding, leading to dramatic rescues. Widespread power outages and damaged infrastructure from the overflowing rivers and landslides have only left a murkier mess for the reeling nations.

The storm has claimed at least four lives across the two countries. According to The Associated Press, two Nicaragua residents perished in a landslide while working in a mine in Bonanza. The first death from Eta came after downpours triggered a mudslide in Honduras, claiming the life of a 12-year-old girl in San Pedro Sula, the director of the Honduras emergency management agency Guillermo Gonzalez told the AP. A fourth death was reported by The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon. A 15-year-old boy drowned trying to cross a rain-swollen river in the central Honduras town of Sulaco.

Honduran authorities declared a National Emergency and issue a red alert for the entire country on Wednesday due to the devastating effects of the major hurricane. This new declaration adds to the current National Emergency that was declared at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020.

Forecasters expect life-threatening and catastrophic flooding to continue in Central America through the rest of this week as Eta moves through the region. The storm was located 115 miles south-southeast of La Ceiba, Honduras, as of Wednesday night. Even though it had weakened considerably into a tropical depression, it was still packing winds of 35 mph as it moved west at 7 mph.

Pictures and videos shared to social media on Wednesday have shown dozens of daring rescues, thus keeping that reported death toll from rising exponentially.

In Atlantida, Honduras, footage shared on Twitter showed rescuers saving multiple people, including very young children, from rushing, waist-deep floodwaters. Farther north in the country, a flooded prison in El Progreso forced the emergency evacuation of over 600 inmates. In San Rafael del Sur, Managua, the Nicaraguan army evacuated 140 people on Wednesday as the Bongo River began to flood.

More than 12 communities in Jutiapa, Honduras have been cut off and isolated as flooding continues to destroy bridges and roadways. Three Nicaraguan communities are isolated as well.

Overflow at the Barro Blanco hydroelectric plant into the Tabasará River started affecting the downstream population of farmers and nearby residents in Chiriqui, Panama on Wednesday.

After such a busy, record-setting hurricane season, it would appear that 2020 might have saved its most intense storm for last. With less than four weeks until the unofficial end to hurricane season, Hurricane Eta wasn't deterred from becoming one of the strongest tropical cyclones of the year.

Nearly 25 weeks after Tropical Storm Arthur began the elongated 2020 tropical season, Eta's eyewall began pushing ashore just after noon on Tuesday.

Eta's slow track toward the Nicaragua coast on Tuesday meant increased coastal impacts as the outer bands of the storm lashed marshy areas on the outskirts of the country. Some residential areas, many of which consist of poorly constructed adobe homes, had been taking a pounding from the storm since Monday.

The rapid ramp-up from tropical storm strength to Category 4 wind speeds in 24 hours gave residents of Central America little time to prepare for what would eventually tie the season's strongest storm -- Hurricane Laura -- at its peak. Although Eta weakened slightly before landfall, the hurricane was whipping maximum sustained winds of 150 mph at its peak, just shy of Category 5 classification (winds of 157 mph or greater). It made landfall at about 4 p.m. EST on Tuesday south of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with 140-mph sustained winds.

Eta was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane after it made landfall and pushed farther inland. Eta continued to lose wind intensity as it trekked over land Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, and it weakened into a tropical storm.

On Monday, the government of Nicaragua prepared by evacuating approximately 3,000 coastal families from their homes and sent supplies to help residents prepare for the storm's impact, Vice President Rosario Murillo reported, according to the AP.

Javier Plat, a local Catholic priest in Puerto Cabezas, told Reuters on Monday that there was already a citywide power outage and that evacuation shelters had reached capacity.

"This city of 70,000 people is very vulnerable," Plat said. "We have houses made of wood and adobe, the infrastructure of the residential houses is our main vulnerability."

Video emerged of emergency personnel saving a woman after waist-deep floodwaters trapped her in a home. Many other families were rescued from their flooded homes, according to officials. On Twitter, the National Police of Honduras shared videos of flood rescues and areas of landslide risks on Tuesday.

Police officers in Honduras help a woman to safety as floodwaters from Hurricane Eta's rains inundated the region on Monday, Nov. 2, before the storm had even made landfall. (Policía Nacional de Honduras)

Eta's eye hovered just offshore through Monday night into Tuesday morning causing winds to uproot trees and rip roofs off houses, scattering debris through the streets of the coastal city of Bilwi, Nicaragua, The Associated Press reported.

There were reports of corrugated metal roofs flying off homes, trees, poles and power lines falling and rivers rising in the coastal area, González said in a news conference, according to CBS News.

About 10,000 people were in shelters in Bilwi and an equal number in smaller towns across the region, González said.

The eye of dangerous major Hurricane Eta became less noticeable on satellite images as it churned just offshore of Nicaragua on Tuesday morning, Nov. 3, 2020. (CIRA at Colorado State/GOES-East)

Nicaragua's navy spent Monday ferrying residents of coastal islands to shelters in Bilwi, according to The Associated Press.

"It was an intense night for everyone in Bilwi, Waspam and the communities along the northern coast," Tamil Zapata, local Bilwi representative of the ruling Sandinista Front, told local Channel 4 according to The Associated Press.

At a shelter in Bilwi, farmer Pedro Down was waiting out the storm. "When it comes, it can rip off all the (roof) and destroy the house, so you have to look for a safer place," he said, cradling a baby in his arms, according to CBS News. "So I came here to save our lives."

Nicaragua Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo prayed for God to protect the country. "How many hurricanes have come and we have moved on, thanks to God," the first lady said on television Monday, CBS News reported.

In Honduras, 12 people, including two newborns, were trapped in Olanchito, Yoro, Q'hubo TV reported. Reports say 50 families were evacuated amid heavy flooding in Cortes, Honduras.

Upon reaching tropical storm status over the weekend, Eta was made the 28th named storm system of the season, tying a record set by the infamous 2005 season for most named systems in a single year.

On top of that, Eta became the strongest Greek-letter named storm in history with winds peaking at 150 mph on Monday night, the upper limits of a Category 4 storm. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) uses the Greek alphabet for storm names when the predetermined list of 21 names is exhausted.

While certainly notable for its strengthening and direct impacts on Central America with the potential for up 50 inches (1,270 millimeters) of rain and catastrophic flooding, the entire picture of how Eta will be remembered may not be painted for a couple more weeks.

Here are some of the notably historical takeaways from Eta:

• 150 mph: By peaking at maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 mph on Tuesday morning, Eta tied Hurricane Laura for the title of strongest storm system of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

• 2007: It has been 13 years since a major hurricane crashed into Nicaragua. Hurricane Felix dealt a devastating blow as a Category 5 hurricane in 2007.

• 28: By strengthening into a tropical storm on Nov. 1, the storm was named Eta and became the 28th named storm of the 2020 season, tying a record with 2005.

• Fifth: Eta became the fifth system of 2020 to reach major hurricane status.

• Third: Of those five major hurricanes, Eta will be the third to make landfall.

• Nov. 3: By reaching Nicaragua on Nov. 3, Eta became the latest landfalling storm of Category 4 strength or greater to ever reach the nation.

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, Eta may stick around for long enough to be part of your Thanksgiving dinner conversation.

Eta or a spin-off storm could re-emerge back over Caribbean waters after pummeling Central America, according to Sosnowski. "It is possible we may be planning Thanksgiving dinner and still watching Eta or a spin-off from it," he said.

Due to inconsistent and erratic steering winds from Central America to the southwestern Atlantic, Sosnowski said that Eta could take a zig-zagging path from its point of landfall in Central America to Cuba, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico -- a trek that could go on for days.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially ends on Nov. 30, but AccuWeather meteorologists have been warning since the summer that threats could linger well into December.

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