Tropical Storm Iota is brewing in the Caribbean Sea, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras after their recent battering from the Category 4 Hurricane Eta.
The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Iota could bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rainfall to the two Central American countries, approaching their coasts as early as Monday.
The storm was located on Saturday afternoon about 375 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, and had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. Iota is moving to the west-south-west at 7mph.
Tropical Storm #Iota is strengthening over the south-central Caribbean Sea. Here are the Key Messages from the 4 pm EST advisory. For more info, visit https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/MTPM3M6NJr
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 14, 2020
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The Caribbean island of Providencia is under a hurricane warning, with parts of Nicaragua and Honduras were under hurricane watches.
Iota could wreak more havoc in a region where people are still grappling with the aftermath of Eta.
That system hit Nicaragua last week as a Category 4 hurricane, killing at least 120 people as torrential rains brought flash floods and landslides to parts of Central America and Mexico.
It then meandered across Cuba, the Florida Keys and around the Gulf of Mexico before slogging ashore again near Cedar Key, Florida, and dashing across Florida and the Carolinas.
Iota is already a record-setting system, being the 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season.
Such activity has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms.
Eta was the 28th named storm of this year’s hurricane season, tying the 2005 record for named storms.
Theta, the 29th, is weakening over the far eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is expected to become a remnant low by Sunday morning, forecasters said.
