(Bluefields) Several Central American countries were on alert Saturday as the tropical storm approached Julia which threatens to develop into a hurricane over the Caribbean Sea before making landfall in Nicaragua, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) and local authorities.
Posted at 5:46 p.m.
” Julia expected to strengthen into a hurricane later in the day (Saturday). A hurricane warning is in effect for parts of the coasts of Nicaragua, and the islands of Providence and San Andres,” the US agency said in a statement.
Rainfall over the weekend could cause potentially deadly “flash floods and mudslides” in Central America, the NHC also warned.
According to the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam), the tropical storm was at 2:30 p.m. (ET) 195 km from San Andres and 180 km from Providence, an island that completes with Santa Catalina a Colombian archipelago of approximately 48,000 inhabitants.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has declared “high alert” in San Andres. The storm is advancing at a speed of around 30 km/h with sustained winds of 93 km/h, according to Idea.
In Bluefields, one of the main towns on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, fishermen were pulling their boats to safety and locals were rushing to stock up and withdraw cash.
“We have to prepare with food, plastic, a bit of everything, because we don’t know what will happen,” Javier Duarte, a cabinetmaker who prayed for the storm to deviate from its path, told AFP. spares his city and its 60,000 inhabitants.
The National System for the Prevention of Disasters of Nicaragua (Sinapred) put the whole country on Saturday on yellow alert and activated rescue units. The government has advised residents to protect their homes and be prepared “to evacuate and take shelter if necessary”.
In Guatemala, President Alejandro Giammatei announced on Twitter that he asked institutions to stand ready to help and support Guatemalans who may be affected.
Twenty-two departments of this country, where 60% of the population lives in poverty, were placed on red alert by the Guatemalan civil protection services (Conred), as the storm approached, which could also affect Honduras and El Salvador.
In Honduras, the government announced preventive load shedding of the main hydroelectric dam, El Cajon, especially since the country experienced floods and evacuations at the end of September in the vicinity of San Pedro Sula, the second city, national industrial lung, and area now most threatened by Julia.