A sense of deja vu in this crazy and tragic year of 2020. Nicaragua got hit by two monster hurricanes 12 days apart in the same area by Eta and Iota. It is eerily similar to Laura and Delta did to Louisiana. It comes at a time when the world is ravaged by COVID-19 pandemic. There are over 56 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide as of November 18, 2020 per Worldometer. If you want to read about COVID-19 pandemic, head over to my other blog, The Ebola Zone.
Iota is 2020’s strongest hurricane as a Category 5 hurricane. It is likely other hurricanes prior to Iota were Category 5 in 2020 like Eta. Iota is the second known Category 5 hurricane to occur in November. The other being the 1932 Cuba Hurricane. It is possible that Hurricane Lenny in 1999 was Category 5 in November. It is likely Category 5 hurricanes have occurred in November.
Eta and Iota have hit Central America. Central America has some of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in history. Mitch comes to mind, which claimed over 11,000 lives. Here is a thematic map of Mitch’s death toll. The GIS map is created from QGIS.
Most of Mitch’s death toll occurred in Honduras and Nicaragua. Mitch is the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane after the Great Hurricane of 1780. The death and destruction are from heavy rain and massive flooding. Some areas in Central America likely saw over 100 inches of rain. This would of been in mountainous areas, where rain is heavier.
What is the current death toll from Eta and Iota? Here is a death toll map as of November 18, 2020.
The death toll from Eta and Iota is 220. If missing are including, the death toll rises to 372. I would not be surprised if the death toll is going to be much higher. I am not going to speculate how high it could be. It is made much worse with COVID-19 ravaging the world.
I will keeping an eye on the Atlantic basin and COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas Hurricane 