Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua on Tuesday as a category 4 tropical cyclone, bringing torrential downpours that left entire communities cut off and hundreds of people homeless, as it did previously in neighboring Honduras, according to local authorities, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
According to Nicaragua's National System for Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (Sinapred), the hurricane made landfall at 4:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT) in Puerto Cabezas, on the country's north Caribbean coast.
Director of Sinapred Guillermo Gonzalez told local media some 20,000 people were evacuated from high risk areas due to heavy rainfall.
Authorities expect the hurricane to weaken into a tropical depression before exiting Nicaragua on Wednesday.
In Honduras, authorities maintained a red alert in the northern departments of Atlantida, Colon, Gracias a Dios and Islas de la Bahia, along the Honduran Caribbean, as well as Olancho to the east.
The Honduran Permanent Contingency Commission (Copeco) confirmed more than 200 people were left homeless and communities were cut off in the northern cities of Puerto Cortes, Tela and Yoro.
Local television and social media broadcast images of flooded streets, and damage to infrastructure and crops.