Central America: Hurricane Iota left a field of ruins and desolation

In Honduras, after the passage of tropical storm Iota.

REUTERS - JORGE CABRERA

Text by: RFI Follow

5 mins

In Latin America, the passage of two hurricanes in less than three weeks caused enormous damage.

More than 250 people have died or are still missing.

On the networks, the images and videos of villages flooded and decimated by hurricanes are numerous

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with our correspondent in Mexico,

Mainly in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, residents and local media have documented the passage of Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Iota in recent days.

It caused torrential rains, strong winds and therefore floods and landslides

 The damage is all the more serious since the soils were already waterlogged and the areas already damaged by the passage of hurricane Eta at the beginning of November… On the images we see villages flooded with muddy water, metal roofs uprooted and residents stranded by the rising waters rescued by organizations like the Red Cross.

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: Hurricane Eta ravages Central America

El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras: populations try to evacuate the area before Hurricane Iota arrives on rutted roads flooded by Hurricane Eta.

AFP

The consequences are expected to be very heavy and lasting for the countries of the region.

On

, storm Iota finished destroying what Hurricane Eta had not swept away.

A five-year-old boy was washed away while he slept.

He is one of 250 victims, deceased or missing since the passage of the two hurricanes.

The hurricane affected 25% of the population of Honduras according to the Honduran Red Cross, and 700,000 Guatemalans lost their crops there ...

“#Iota made landfall less than two weeks after Hurricane #Eta, which was also a very strong category 4 hurricane, made landfall just 25 km apart.

So we're having these huge impacts hitting basically the same area. "@WMO said on Tuesday.

Full story: https://t.co/p4V4bVFRYa

- UN News (@UN_News_Centre) November 18, 2020

Hurricane Eta that hit the region earlier this month was rated 4 on a scale of 5, which the United States National Hurricane Center defines as catastrophic.

Hurricanes of this force make most of the affected area uninhabitable for weeks or even months, the center warns.

Hurricanes are reinforced in the sea through the heat of the water.

As global warming has increased the temperature of the oceans, these phenomena are now more powerful and last longer once on earth ...

RAMMB / CIRA satellite image: Hurricane Iota approaches the coast of Central America on November 16, 2020, aproximándose a América Central RAMMB / CIRA / AFP

This year, the hurricane center ran out of letters to name these weather phenomena and broke into the Greek alphabet… A record number of 30 tropical storms have been recorded this season in the Caribbean.

A natural disaster that could have migratory effects

This natural disaster comes on top of systemic poverty and the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic ... The most affected regions will take months to recover from these hurricanes and many specialists expect migration towards the northern countries is growing even stronger ... The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stresses that climate change is fueling the phenomenon of climate refugees, forced to move after having lost everything.

Guatemala and Honduras are preparing to ask the United States

for their emigrant nationals, a measure that guarantees the non-expulsion of people from countries hit by disasters or wars. , as was granted to El Salvador after Hurricane Mitch.

A status that the Trump administration managed to cancel during the tenure of the outgoing president.

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