A week after Hurricane Eta's Central America rampage, victims still await rescue
By
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Nov 16, 2020 7:36 AM EST
Disaster recovery groups say more than a million people are in desperate need of help after Hurricane Eta battered Central America last week.
It's been over a week since Hurricane Eta struck Central America with a deadly force rarely seen in the region. The damage reports and fatality totals were harrowing in the immediate aftermath, and millions of residents in countries such as Nicaragua and Guatemala are now facing equally daunting ongoing tragedies along the road to recovery.
AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell called the situation unfolding a humanitarian crisis after he spoke with several sources in Central America about the catastrophe that Eta caused.
Relief organizations have been working around the clock along with military personnel for the past week to get food and supplies to the ravaged coastal areas where Eta made landfall and rugged mountainous areas that were devastated by the storm's torrential rainfall. In some cases, helicopters and boats were the only means to reach these communities.
After multiple feet of rain triggered deadly landslides and left entire cities flooded, including remote locations that now have no connection to possible assistance, getting those supplies to people in desperate need has been a huge task.
Guatemalan soldiers load emergency aid into a U.S. Army helicopter to be transported to Coban, northern Guatemala, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. The government said Tuesday it had suspended search efforts in nearby Queja, a village buried on Nov. 5 by a landslide triggered by heavy and constant rain dumped by Tropical Storm Eta. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The storm destroyed bridges and roads, adding to the challenges of navigating difficult terrain in the mountainous country, Annelise Palma of the Sociedad Biblica de Guatemala told Wadell. All of these factors have slowed down help from reaching some of the areas most in need. "A lot of people are still on the top of their roofs waiting for the help to come," Palma said.
Since Eta's landfall over a week ago, in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, the death toll has spiked to at least 150, according to an estimate from Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, Reuters reported on Friday.
In a press conference on Saturday, Guatemala's president, Alejandro Giammattei confirmed at least 46 people were killed in the country from Eta's impacts.
The storm will be remembered as one of the fiercest to ever hit Central America, harkening memories back to Hurricane Mitch's catastrophic strike from 1998.
Mitch has long been considered one of the worst natural disasters to strike Central America and is remembered as one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in history. It made landfall in Honduras after boasting the fifth-strongest wind speeds of any Atlantic storm in history then reformed in the Bay of Campeche before heading toward the United States. In Central America, Mitch was responsible for either the most or second-most fatalities of any hurricane, depending on the source. With unofficial rainfall reports of up to 75 inches, the storm destroyed “the entire infrastructure of Honduras,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
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Palma and other members of the Sociedad Biblica de Guatamala, located in Guatemala City, are using their connection to local church leaders in order to get supplies delivered to the hardest-hit areas, some of which received one to three months' worth of rain in as little as a three-day stretch, Palma said.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross, over 2.5 million people, including in Nicaragua where the storm crashed ashore, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, were impacted by the storm and many of the largest-looming threats have come from the storm's after effects, such as waterborne diseases, lack of clean drinking water and the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Recovery will take months, if not years, and AccuWeather forecasters warned that the situation could turn even more dire with yet another tropical threat looming for Central America early next week.
Hurricane Iota is forecast to strike Nicaragua as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane (sustained winds of 130-156 mph) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Hurricane Eta stuck Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Nov. 3.
“With Eta having gone through less than 2 weeks ago, Hurricane Iota will place another devastating blow to the region. No amount of words can describe the problems this system will add to the crisis already occurring in the area,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde said.
Palma insisted that more help for the battered countries is needed for those millions to get the assistance they require.
"It will always be precious and valuable," Palma said of the assistance. "And it will always help somebody in need."
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Hurricane
A week after Hurricane Eta's Central America rampage, victims still await rescue
By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Nov 16, 2020 7:36 AM EST
Disaster recovery groups say more than a million people are in desperate need of help after Hurricane Eta battered Central America last week.
It's been over a week since Hurricane Eta struck Central America with a deadly force rarely seen in the region. The damage reports and fatality totals were harrowing in the immediate aftermath, and millions of residents in countries such as Nicaragua and Guatemala are now facing equally daunting ongoing tragedies along the road to recovery.
AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell called the situation unfolding a humanitarian crisis after he spoke with several sources in Central America about the catastrophe that Eta caused.
Relief organizations have been working around the clock along with military personnel for the past week to get food and supplies to the ravaged coastal areas where Eta made landfall and rugged mountainous areas that were devastated by the storm's torrential rainfall. In some cases, helicopters and boats were the only means to reach these communities.
After multiple feet of rain triggered deadly landslides and left entire cities flooded, including remote locations that now have no connection to possible assistance, getting those supplies to people in desperate need has been a huge task.
Guatemalan soldiers load emergency aid into a U.S. Army helicopter to be transported to Coban, northern Guatemala, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. The government said Tuesday it had suspended search efforts in nearby Queja, a village buried on Nov. 5 by a landslide triggered by heavy and constant rain dumped by Tropical Storm Eta. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The storm destroyed bridges and roads, adding to the challenges of navigating difficult terrain in the mountainous country, Annelise Palma of the Sociedad Biblica de Guatemala told Wadell. All of these factors have slowed down help from reaching some of the areas most in need. "A lot of people are still on the top of their roofs waiting for the help to come," Palma said.
Since Eta's landfall over a week ago, in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, the death toll has spiked to at least 150, according to an estimate from Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, Reuters reported on Friday.
In a press conference on Saturday, Guatemala's president, Alejandro Giammattei confirmed at least 46 people were killed in the country from Eta's impacts.
The storm will be remembered as one of the fiercest to ever hit Central America, harkening memories back to Hurricane Mitch's catastrophic strike from 1998.
Mitch has long been considered one of the worst natural disasters to strike Central America and is remembered as one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in history. It made landfall in Honduras after boasting the fifth-strongest wind speeds of any Atlantic storm in history then reformed in the Bay of Campeche before heading toward the United States. In Central America, Mitch was responsible for either the most or second-most fatalities of any hurricane, depending on the source. With unofficial rainfall reports of up to 75 inches, the storm destroyed “the entire infrastructure of Honduras,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Palma and other members of the Sociedad Biblica de Guatamala, located in Guatemala City, are using their connection to local church leaders in order to get supplies delivered to the hardest-hit areas, some of which received one to three months' worth of rain in as little as a three-day stretch, Palma said.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross, over 2.5 million people, including in Nicaragua where the storm crashed ashore, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, were impacted by the storm and many of the largest-looming threats have come from the storm's after effects, such as waterborne diseases, lack of clean drinking water and the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Recovery will take months, if not years, and AccuWeather forecasters warned that the situation could turn even more dire with yet another tropical threat looming for Central America early next week.
Hurricane Iota is forecast to strike Nicaragua as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane (sustained winds of 130-156 mph) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Hurricane Eta stuck Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Nov. 3.
“With Eta having gone through less than 2 weeks ago, Hurricane Iota will place another devastating blow to the region. No amount of words can describe the problems this system will add to the crisis already occurring in the area,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde said.
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Palma insisted that more help for the battered countries is needed for those millions to get the assistance they require.
"It will always be precious and valuable," Palma said of the assistance. "And it will always help somebody in need."
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo