Eta Leaves Behind Destruction In Central America

 Eta quickly intensified while crawling towards Central America earlier this week, and left behind a trail of destruction from flooding rains and pummeling winds.

After forming into a tropical depression last Shabbos in the Central Caribbean and then into a tropical storm hours later, Eta slowed to a crawl in advance of landfall in Nicaragua.

While Eta was slowly making its way towards land, it experienced a 36-hour period of rapid intensification, brining it to 150 mph winds.

Finally, Eta made it onshore on Tuesday afternoon. The cyclone quickly weakened into a tropical storm Wednesday morning and a depression later Wednesday. Even as the winds decreased, the flooding rains continued.

Marvin Aparicio, of Honduras’ emergency management agency, said Wednesday that some 379 homes had been destroyed, mostly by floodwaters. There were 38 communities cut off by washed out roads and five bridges in the country were wiped out by swollen rivers. 

Eta left a path of destruction across northern Nicaragua starting with the coastal city of Bilwi.In Bilwi on Wednesday, civil defense brigades worked to clear streets of downed trees, power lines and sheets of metal roofing. Some neighborhoods were completely flooded. Vice President and first lady Rosario Murillo said more than 51,000 families remained without power in the affected areas. “The debris teams are starting to work and we still can’t give a sense of what happened,” said Ivania Díaz, a local government official in Bilwi. “We have seen very humble homes completely destroyed. ”South of Bilwi, closer to where Eta came ashore Tuesday, the seaside Miskito community of Wawa Bar was devastated. The military had evacuated the community before Eta hit, but what residents found Wednesday was distressing. Wind-twisted trees, shredded roofs and some structures damaged beyond recognition sat within view of the sea.

(Above photos via AP)

According to Nicaragua's National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention, about 30,000 people were evacuated to shelters.

-With reporting from the Associated Press and the Weather Channel.

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