Weather: Hurricane Julia hits Nicaragua

“Nicaragua satellite and radar data indicate (Hurricane) Julia has made landfall near Pearl Pond in Nicaragua,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) posted on its Twitter account at 07:15 GMT on Sunday. According to the same source, the cyclone had reached a speed of 136 kmph at the time of landfall.

Julia became a hurricane with winds of 120 km/h near the islands of San Andres and Providencia, which are saturated with the Colombian archipelago of Santa Catalina, home to about 48,000 people in the Caribbean Sea. “The storm gradually grew in size and became stronger and stronger,” said Marcio Baga, director of meteorology at the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INTER).

According to AFP photographers, strong winds and heavy rain began battering the autonomous region of Bluefields on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast (east) around midnight. State media reported that the town of Bluefields was left without power, with torn tin roofs and fallen trees.

According to NHC forecasts, after crossing Nicaraguan territory, Julia is expected to reach the Pacific Ocean as a tropical storm. Fishermen secured their boats at Bluefields and locals rushed to collect money and try to extort money. “We don’t know what will happen because we have to prepare food, we have to prepare everything,” Javier Duarte, a cabinetmaker who prayed for his life as the storm moved away from its path, told AFP. and its 60,000 inhabitants.

Nicaragua’s National Organization for the Prevention of Disasters (SINAPRED) issued a yellow alert across the country on Saturday and activated rescue units. The government evacuated about 6,000 people from the Pearl Lagoon area and other threatened areas.

In Guatemala, 22 sectors were put on red alert by civil protection services as the storm approached. In Honduras, the government announced the spillage of the main hydroelectric dam El Cajon. Especially near the country’s second largest city and industrial lung, San Pedro Sula, is the area now most threatened by Julia, as the country experienced flooding and evacuations in late September.

In El Salvador, authorities have declared an orange alert for the entire country, activating rescue units and preventive evacuations in high-risk areas. In Panama, civil defense has established a yellow alert, including Darien province, a jungle region bordering Colombia and hundreds of migrants crossing daily to reach the United States.

In late 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Central America, leaving at least 200 people dead and many more missing, and damage estimated at several million dollars.