“Julia is expected to strengthen into a hurricane (…). A hurricane warning is in effect for parts of the coast of Nicaragua and the islands of Providence and San Andres,” the US agency said in an emergency bulletin.
Central American countries were on high alert Saturday as Tropical Storm Julia approaches, threatening to strengthen in the coming hours into a cyclone over the Caribbean before making landfall in Nicaragua, according to the US hurricane center. (NHC) and local authorities.
“Julia is expected to strengthen into a hurricane (…). A hurricane warning is in effect for parts of the coast of Nicaragua and the islands of Providence and San Andres,” the US agency said in an emergency bulletin.
The weekend rains could cause potentially deadly “flash floods and mudslides” in central America, the NHC warned.
According to the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), the tropical storm was at 21:30 (Greece time) 195 kilometers from San Andres and 180 kilometers from Providence, an island that together with Santa Catalina belongs to a Colombian archipelago of about 48,000 inhabitants.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared a state of “maximum alert” in San Andres. The tropical storm is moving at about 30 kilometers per hour and packing winds of 93 kph, according to IDEAM.
In Bluefields, one of the largest cities on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, fishermen secured their boats and residents rushed to stock up and withdraw cash.
“We have to prepare, get food, plastic, a little bit of everything, because we don’t know what will happen,” explained Javier Duarte, a furniture maker, adding that he is praying the storm will change course and not hit his town and its 60,000 or so. its inhabitants.
The National Disaster Prevention System of Nicaragua (SINAPRED) yesterday Saturday put the country on “yellow alert” and activated search and rescue units. The government advised residents to take measures to protect their homes and be ready to “evacuate their homes and go to shelters if necessary.”
In Guatemala, conservative President Alejandro Yamate announced on Twitter that he has asked all government agencies to be ready to help and support Guatemalans who may need it.
Twenty-two prefectures in that country, where 60% of the population lives in poverty, have been put on “red alert” by Guatemala’s Civil Protection Services (CONRED) as the storm approaches, which also threatens to hit Honduras and El Salvador.
In Honduras, the government announced that it is taking precautionary measures at the country’s main hydroelectric dam, El Cajon, as the country experienced a rise in water levels in late September on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula, the second largest city and national industrial lung, and now this zone is threatened by Julia.
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