En route to the United States, the storm Nate turns into a hurricane

Photo AFP

AFP

Saturday, October 7, 2017 08:52

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Saturday, October 7, 2017 08:52

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Tropical storm Nate, who is on his way to the United States, was transformed Saturday into a category 1 storm, having left at least 28 people dead and caused significant damage during its passage in central America.

“Nate has turned into a hurricane”, this was announced at night, the national hurricane Center (NHC) in the u.s. while Nate ran along the caribbean coast of Mexico and was located approximately 150 km north of the western end of Cuba.

The hurricane is a category 1 on the 5 in the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.

According to the national meteorological Service of Mexico (SMN), Nate is moving at 35 km/h with gusts of wind up to 150 km/h and is expected to reach the United States in the early hours of Sunday.

In Mexico, the governor of the State of Quintana Roo, which includes the tourist region of Cancun, had suspended classes in schools as early as Friday afternoon, Carlos Joaquin asking people, “do not let your guard down,” because, even if Nate is not expected to reach the mexican territory, it could cause heavy rains.

In anticipation of its passage in the gulf of Mexico, oil rigs and gas have been evacuated.

The authorities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the south-eastern United States, have imposed a curfew Friday after-noon, as well as evacuation measures compulsory and voluntary in some low lying areas, are particularly vulnerable to flooding.

“Our biggest threat is not necessarily the rain, but the winds and the waves,” said the mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu.

“We expect its impact”, said the governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, who has declared a state of emergency.

The south-east of the United States has already been hit hard in August by two hurricanes: Harvey in Texas and Louisiana, that has made 42 people dead and caused considerable material damage, and Irma, who, after having traversed the west Indies, reached category 5 and killed 12 people in Florida.

Devastation in central America

Bridges destroyed, roads flooded, trees in the ground and landslides: Nate has caused heavy damage during its passage in central America.

Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, the countries most heavily affected, were beginning to assess the damage while the rain seemed to give way.

Under the violence of the storm, whole towns were cut off from the world in several countries of the region.

According to the latest balance sheets, officials of the emergency services, the storm has made 13 people dead in Nicaragua, 10 in Costa Rica, three in Honduras and two in el Salvador.

And this balance is only provisional. In Costa Rica, the rescue teams were searching for more than 30 people missing and more than 5,000 have had to find refuge in shelters.

President Luis Guillermo Solis has declared three days of national mourning in tribute to the ten people killed, including a girl of three years washed away by a mudslide.

Despite the slight lull on the front of the rain, Mr. Solis has warned that the risk of floods and landslides persisted.

“We’ve done a very detailed evaluation of the climate situation, it is improving, except in the north-west and the south. This situation is misleading, because it’s going to rain this weekend and the soils are saturated, thus the landslides are possible , he warned.

In this country, of the villages located on the Pacific coast remained flooded on Friday morning as rescue teams searched for missing persons.

The costa rican government has also called on the population to take precautions, because the crocodiles living in the rivers of the coastal can approach homes because of the floods.

Nicaragua seems to be the country most affected by the storm, according to the vice-president and government spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, more than 10 000 people affected by floods and mudslides. Thousands of families remained without electricity Friday morning.

The Caribbean region, during the rainy season, is still under the trauma of the hurricanes, Irma, Jose and Maria that have been hit in recent weeks, leaving a landscape of desolation and many victims behind them.