Tropical Storm Julia appeared over the eastern Pacific Ocean on Sunday evening after rain and wind hit Nicaragua, damaging hundreds of homes but causing no casualties, government officials said.
The storm made landfall on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua early Sunday near Laguna de Perlas and by 6 p.m. local time (0000 GMT) had its epicenter over the Pacific Ocean about 135 miles (220 kilometers) southeast of El Salvador’s capital, the cyclone. American National. The Center (NHC) said.
It is expected to move north along the coasts of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala on Sunday and Monday, according to the National Engineering Commission.
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Vice President Rosario Murillo said that about one million residents of the coastal region of Nicaragua have been cut off from electricity and the Internet due to falling lines as well as the government’s decision to cut off electricity for safety reasons.
Nicaragua’s National Disaster System said in a tweet on Sunday that the entire country was on “high alert,” after torrential rains caused floods in several rivers.
Guillermo Gonzalez, director of Nicaragua’s disaster system, said at a press conference that Julia had not caused any deaths in the country, but more than 13,000 families had been evacuated, more than 800 homes were inundated and many roofs damaged.
People enter a pickup truck to take them to a safe area as Hurricane Julia hits the coasts with wind and rain, in Bluefields, Nicaragua, October 8, 2022. REUTERS/MINOR Valenzuela
“It’s not over,” Gonzalez said.
The National Counter-Terrorism Committee continued to warn of “life-threatening risks of floods and mudslides across Central America and southern Mexico” through Tuesday.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, said on social media early Sunday morning that Julia had left “minor damage” in the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia off the coast of Nicaragua.
In San Andrés, high winds caused tin roofs to be pulled from tin roofs, according to police captain Octavio Gutierrez. On Sunday, the streets rang out with the sound of portable chainsaws used by police and local residents to remove fallen stumps and branches.
In high-risk areas of Honduras, authorities declared a red alert and called on residents to evacuate. Early on Sunday, Salvadorans prayed in the city squares after El Salvador’s President Neb Bokel declared the day a “national day of prayer,” calling on citizens to “gather to pray and seek God’s protection.”
As Julia moved north, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giamatti told a news conference late Sunday that the storm had already caused three floods and one bridge collapse.
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Additional reporting by Jackie Potts and Ida Bellaraja Fernandez in Mexico City Additional reporting by Luis Echeverria and Enrique Garcia in Guatemala City, Gustavo Valencia in Tegucigalpa, Herbert Villaraga and Nina Lopez in San Andrés; Written by Frances Kerry. Editing by Barbara Lewis, Matthew Lewis, and Anna Nicolassi da Costa
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