6 Current Events
Red & Black
Current Events
13 November 2020
Hurricane Eta En-Route to Central America
Courtesy Fox News
Hurricane Eta swirls accross the coast of Florida on November 11.
Lekhya Kollu Red & Black Staff
On Nov. 2, Hurricane Eta developed into a Category 4 hurricane on a path to Central America. Category 4 hurricanes are classified as major hurricanes that can cause catastrophic damage due to their wind speeds of 130-156 miles per hour. Hurricane Eta made landfall in
Nicaragua on Nov. 3, causing extensive flooding, downed power lines and structural damage to many buildings. As of Nov. 3, the city of Puerto Cabezas, in one of Nicaragua’s poorest regions, was without power and at capacity in its government shelters. In Honduras, which borders Nicaragua, the storm left 38 dead and eight missing. The storm weakened after moving inland over Central America’s mountainous terrain, and by the time it had made its second landfall in Cuba on the morning of Nov. 8, it had been downgraded again to a tropical storm. By the night of Nov. 8, it had made its third landfall in Florida with 65 mile
per hour winds, causing widespread flooding and power outages for 28,000 homes across the state. Many school districts have shut down both in-person and online instruction. The storm pounded the state with six to 14 inches of rain, which overwhelmed soil that had already been saturated by heavy rains in Oct. The storm’s rains also overwhelmed the poor drainage systems in many of the states’ older communities. To prevent water from seeping into homes, Florida state officials have been providing sandbags to residents and vacuuming water up with tanker trucks over the past few weeks. As of
Nov. 9, the storm is moving southwest away from Florida and atmospheric conditions in the Gulf of Mexico are likely to weaken it significantly, but meteorologists still predict a chance of a fourth landfall later in the week. According to National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham, it’s “going to take a while” before the storm completely dies down. Eta is the 28th named storm of a record-breaking season. Thus far, 2020 has tied with 2005 for the highest number of named storms in a season, with Hurricane Eta being the strongest hurricane of the year. Hurricane season will officially be ending this year on Nov. 30.
