Tropical Storm Iota has strengthened and is expected to become a major hurricane as it approaches Central America, the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned today.
"Reconnaissance aircraft finds Iota has strengthened into the 13th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season," the NHC said.
Iota is expected to unleash "life-threatening" flooding when it hits Nicaragua and Honduras tomorrow. It has already brought torrential rain and flooding to Cartagena in Colombia.
It comes less than two weeks after powerful storm Eta killed more than 200 people, causing flooding and mudslides across a huge swath, stretching from Panama to southern Mexico.
Yesterday morning, Guatemalan authorities said a mudslide buried 10 people in the state of Chiquimula near the border with Honduras.
Emergency workers have rescued two people and recovered three corpses so far. Five people are still missing.
This follows last week's partial collapse of a mountain onto the village of Queja, in the central Guatemalan region of Alta Verapaz, which killed and buried alive dozens of residents.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei expressed concern about Iota's approach, saying he has ordered evacuations for areas expected to be affected.
"We are concerned about the area of Alta Verapaz and Quiché. We believe that they are the areas where we could have the greatest impact," said Mr Giammattei. "We hope God helps us."
In Honduras, where Eta killed 64 people and damaged roads, bridges and crops, President Juan Orlando Hernández has urged people in Iota's path to evacuate to the nearest shelters.
"Iota is going to put our lives and our economy at risk again," he said.
Residents of the community of Cruz de Valencia in northwestern Honduras have begun evacuating.
"We have to get out, we have to save our lives," said local man Erick Gomez, who said he only survived the flooding from the last hurricane by clinging to a tree to avoid being swept away by the rushing water.
"We are afraid of what we just suffered with Eta, and we do not want to go through the same thing again," he added.
