Hurricane Julia hits Nicaragua with heavy rain

Mexico City – Hurricane Julia hit the central Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and dumped torrential rain across Central America before reappearing over the Pacific Ocean as a tropical storm. He is expected to travel along the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala on Monday.

Julia hit Sunday as a Class 1 tornado With maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph), though its winds had dropped to a tropical storm strength of 40 mph (65 kph) by Sunday night when it overtook Nicaragua.

The US National Hurricane Center said Julia was centered 95 miles (155 kilometers) southeast of San Salvador, in El Salvador and was moving west at 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour).

She said life-threatening floods and mudslides were possible across Central America and southern Mexico through Tuesday, and the storm was expected to bring up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain in isolated areas.

The Colombian National Disaster Agency reported on Sunday that Julia blew up the roofs of several houses and knocked on trees as she passed the island of San Andres in eastern Nicaragua. There were no immediate reports of fatalities

In Nicaragua, Vice President Rosario Murillo told TN8 that there were no reports of deaths so far, but that electricity and communications were cut off in some areas. She said 9,500 people had been evacuated to shelters.

Local media showed pictures of trees falling on roads and local floods.

Heavy rain and evacuations were also reported in Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica, where some highways were closed due to the downpour.

Guillermo Gonzalez, director of Nicaragua’s disaster response system, told state media that people at high risk had been evacuated from coastal areas by Saturday noon. The military said it had delivered humanitarian supplies to Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas for distribution to 118 temporary shelters.

The storm was expected to appear over the Pacific Ocean and surround the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala, an area already saturated with weeks of torrential rain. It was expected to dissipate by Monday night.

In Guatemala, storms since early May have already killed at least 49 people, with six missing. Guatemalan officials said roads and hundreds of homes were damaged.

In El Salvador, where 19 people have died this rainy season, the worst rainfall was expected on Monday and Tuesday, according to Fernando Lopez, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Officials said they have opened 61 shelters for more than 3,000 people.