Update (1315 ET): With Hurricane Iota honing in on Central America - the area could experience a massive economic loss of its most valuable crop: cocaine coffee.
On Saturday, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel estimated Hurricane Eta destroyed 10% of Central American coffee crop earlier this month. He said this percentage could increase as Iota is set to strike the area.
"AccuWeather estimates that additional impacts from Iota could be as much as another 10% to perhaps 25% loss as the region could be more susceptible to damage in the wake of Eta," Samuhel said.
Hurricane Iota strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane on Monday morning and is expected to make landfall in northeastern Nicaragua on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
As of 1000 ET, Iota was located approximately 100 miles east-southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.
At Category 5, Iota is expected to be even more devastating than Hurricane Eta, which pulverized Central America earlier this month.
"This is a catastrophic situation unfolding for northeastern Nicaragua with an extreme storm surge of 15-20 ft forecast along with destructive winds and potentially 30 inches of rainfall," the NHC wrote.
No comments:
Post a Comment