Volunteer firefighters huddle in prayer before beginning a search and rescue operation Nov. 7 in San Cristóbal Verapaz, Guatemala, in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta. Moises Castillo/AP
Updated at 6: 15 p.m. ET
Relief organizations already stretched by their response to Hurricane Eta are preparing for a second devastating storm in as many weeks in Central America as Hurricane Iota heads for Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and southern Belize.
The National Hurricane Center said Iota, a Category 5 hurricane, will make landfall Monday night in Nicaragua, bringing with it catastrophic winds and torrential rainfall. As of 1 p.m. ET, Iota has maximum sustained winds near 160 mph and higher gusts.
The life-threatening storm was made more likely by climate change, research shows. Hurricanes are more likely to be larger and more powerful when they form over hotter oceans, because they draw their energy from the water. Climate change is causing sea surface temperatures to rise around the world, and in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the water is consistently about 2 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it was a century ago.
The center's description of damage resulting from a Category 5 storm said that "a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed. ... Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months."
Conor Walsh, who manages Catholic Relief Services in Honduras, said the capital, Tegucigalpa, is highly vulnerable — as is the rest of the country.
Hurricane Iota, a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, is due to make landfall Monday night in Nicaragua. National Hurricane Center
"This storm is so big, it's going to go right across the whole country, and we expect widespread damage and widespread suffering," Walsh said.
Timothy Hansell, manager of Catholic Relief Services in Nicaragua, said the charity is working to provide cleaning supplies and toilet paper to local residents, rebuild homes damaged in Hurricane Eta and help farmers recover from damage to crops.
Hurricane Eta hit two parts of Nicaragua hardest, Hansell said.
"One is the Caribbean [coastal] Indigenous communities, and that's where we're getting the really strong winds and heavy flooding and houses destroyed," Hansell said. "The other area is the northern and central area of the country, which is where a lot of the farming areas are, and they're reporting ... 50% loss in the current season for beans [and] a lot of damage in rice and corn as well as in vegetables."
The storm's impact on farms extends throughout the region.
"These two storms are hitting at the worst possible time because ... farmers are just getting ready to harvest, and they lost massive amounts of beans and other basic grains to the storm," Walsh said. "So we're going to have to think about their immediate food security and then the long-term recovery of the agricultural sector."
In Guatemala, Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian aid organization, is also gearing up to respond to Iota.
In Guatemala's Alta Verapaz, more than 50% of the population lives in extreme poverty, said Miriam Aguilar, a Mercy Corps representative.
If Iota maintains its projected track, it could be devastating, Aguilar said. Terrain in the region is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Eta, and Aguilar said 17,500 people in Guatemala are living in shelters.
"Access to affected communities still remains a challenge. We have downed trees and flooded roads, washed-out bridges," she said. "With the arrival of Iota, we are expecting additional flash flooding, overflowing rivers and maybe landslides, which could further inhibit our access."
This coming week, Mercy Corps plans to install water storage tanks at evacuation shelters in Alta Verapaz to ensure evacuees have access to clean water, Aguilar said. But she's anticipating flash flooding that may cut off her organization's access to the shelters.
The risk from COVID-19 and waterborne diseases will only increase as more evacuees seek shelter, Aguilar said.
"We are really concerned about the spread of COVID-19," she said. "In addition to formal shelters, including the ones that we have already been providing [personal protective equipment] and other urgent supplies ... there are also many informal shelters ... set up by communities themselves. They improvise the structures, and they are lacking basic resources."
Hansell, in Nicaragua, said he hopes the international community can grasp the severity of the hurricanes.
"A lot of people [outside Central America] didn't even realize that Hurricane Eta came through and the devastation it made [in] ... Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, even back to Mexico. ... Realize that this is severely affecting the lives of a lot of people, destroying livelihoods, homes and families. ... There is a need to help rebuild and help people get their lives back," he said.
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