Hurricane Iota Hits Central America – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

Hurricane Eta

Hurricane Eta

• Four adults and two minors are dead, according to Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo.
• More than 400,000 people in Nicaragua were affected by the storm as it made landfall near Haulover.
• More than 100 people evacuated on Colombian island of Providencia.

How severe is hurricane Iota?

• Hurricane Iota made landfall in Nicaragua in Central America on Monday night and has developed into a category five storm.
• Iota was spotted as a tropical depression last week in the Central Caribbean Sea by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale

• Hurricanes are categorised on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 based on wind speed.
• Hurricanes that reach category three or higher are called ‘major hurricanes’ because of their potential to cause devastating damage to life and property.

How severe is Hurricane Iota?

• As per the NHC, hurricane Iota is a significant storm, and damaging winds and a life-threatening storm surge are expected along portions of the coast of northeastern Nicaragua during the next several hours.
• Flash Floods: Further, NHC notes that due to heavy rainfall associated with the storm, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding is expected through Thursday across portions of Central America.
• Iota is a category five storm. Significantly, its landfall location near the town of Haulover in Nicaragua is just over 25 km away from where category four hurricane Eta made landfall on November 3, and killed over 140 people across Central America.
• Therefore, flooding and mudslides across the portions of Honduras, Nicaragua and Gautemala could be exacerbated because of Eta’s recent effects in these areas, “resulting in significant to potentially catastrophic impacts”, NHC has said.

Are hurricanes becoming more severe now?

• In a study published in the journal Nature on November 11, researchers noted that a warming world may be responsible for the increasingly slow decay of hurricanes.
• In the study, the researchers claim that warmer sea surface temperatures induce a slower decay by increasing the stock of moisture that a hurricane carries with it as it hits the land.

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