Hurricane Julia approached Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast on Saturday after hitting the Colombian island of San Andres in a close pass shortly after strengthening following a tropical typhoon in the afternoon.
After gaining strength that day, Julia’s maximum sustained winds stabilized around 75 mph (120 kph) Saturday night, just above the threshold of a Category 1 hurricane, the U. S. National Hurricane Center said. U. S.
The typhoon was centered about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east-northeast of Bluefields, Nicaragua, and moved westward at 16 mph (26 km/h), with a landfall on the coast of Nicaragua scheduled for the evening.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro had declared “high alert” in San Andres, as well as the islands of Providencia to the north, and asked hotels to prepare spaces to house vulnerable populations. The government of San Andrés imposed a curfew on citizens at 6 a. m. on Saturday to restrict other people on the streets. Air operations to the islands have been suspended.
There have been no initial reports of the storm in San Andres.
In Nicaragua, the government issued an alert for all types of vessels to seek port as the hurricane followed a general trail towards the area of Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas.
Guillermo Gonzalez, director of Nicaragua’s Crisis Response System, told state media that other high-risk people were evacuated from coastal spaces at noon Saturday. The army said it had delivered humanitarian supplies in Bluefields and Pearl Lagoon for distribution to 118 transitional shelters.
In Bluefields, however, life changed little on Saturday night and others expressed reluctance to leave their homes.
Forecasters said a greater risk than Julia’s winds of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain, up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) in remote spaces, which the typhoon expects to sell in Central America.
“This precipitation may cause potentially fatal flash flooding and landslides this weekend,” the U. S. National Hurricane Center said. U. S.
The remnants of the typhoon were expected to pass through Nicaragua and then along the Pacific coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala, a region already saturated by weeks of heavy rains.
In Guatemala, authorities said Julia could flood 10 apartments in the east, center and west of the country, an area that has been hardest hit during this rainy season and where the poorest people are concentrated.
From May to September, storms caused 49 deaths and six more people missing. Roads and many homes were damaged, according to Guatemalan officials.
In El Salvador, where another 19 people have died this rainy season, the worst rains are expected on Monday and Tuesday, said Fernando Lopez, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Other people
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