Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua Tuesday as a Category 4 storm, producing heavy rains and winds up to 140 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
The storm is rolling along a track that could put some South Florida residents in the path of the intense hurricane, though experts say the storm could weaken as it travels through Central America, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The NHC reported early Tuesday that the 28th named storm and 12th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall south of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.
“Life-Threatening Storm Surge, Catastrophic Winds, and Flash Flooding Occurring Over Portions of Central America,” the service said in an online post.
Sunday night, Eta went from a rapidly intensifying tropical storm to Category 5 strengths, sustaining winds over 156 MPH, AccuWeather reported.
“By Sunday it re-emerged over the northwest Caribbean, further strengthening possible. Forecast modeling, again, why we have to watch it here in Florida as it keeps it in that general vicinity as we look longer term,” FOX 35 meteorologist Jayme King told the Sentinel
Eta is moving at a slow 5 mph over parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, creating a danger of torrential downpours and flash floods.
The storm surges produced by Eta could raise water levels up to 21 feet above normal levels along Nicaragua’s coast.