Cat 5 Hurricane Iota, a nightmare after Eta

Just two weeks after Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, Category 5 Hurricane Iota is about to make landfall just miles away.

Just two weeks after Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, Category 5 Hurricane Iota is about to make landfall just miles away.

This will likely deliver a catastrophic blow to Central America with extreme flooding they haven't seen in 1,000 years, and a death toll that could approach that of Hurricane Mitch.

Not only will the worst part of the hurricane's eyewall winds tear through the same town as Hurricane Eta did, Puerto Cabezas, but heavy rain will also cause mudslides and extreme river flooding across several countries, just like Eta.

NOTE: The video below shows "flooding from Hurricane Iota" in Colombia, on the edge of the storm over the weekend.

How much rain fell in Central America during Eta?

We may never know. Meteorological instrumentation is sparse in Nicaragua. A NASA satellite estimate for the seven days including Hurricane Eta showed amounts that were "off the charts" -- likely more than 24 inches, at least offshore, and more than 20 near landfall in Nicaragua, and over 14 inches over a wide area of that country, Belize, and Honduras.

Amounts from official rainfall gauges include:

• Tela, Honduras: 28.00"*

• La Ceiba, Honduras: 20.00"*

• Puerto Barrios, Guatemala: 16.10"

• Coban, Guatemala: 13.40"

• La Mesa, Honduras: 12.94"

• Trujillo, Honduras: 12.80"

*Best estimate by AccuWeather Meteorologists based on some missing gauge data.

Whatever the amounts, it was enough to cause major flooding and kill 145 people. And now, if the rain hits the same places, it will bring devastation all over again. For areas that escaped Eta's rain, it could bring devastation for the first time.

With improved infrastructure and technology, hopefully Iota's death toll won't approach the 10,000 - 20,000 deaths from Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which researchers have attributed to heavy, but not catastrophic rainfall mixed with poor agricultural management.

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