New Delhi (NVI): Cuba’s meteorology office today warned of torrential rain and flooding as Tropical Depression Eta churned northwards towards the Caribbean island, and is on track to Florida, after killing more than 100 people in Central America last week.
Eta could strengthen back into a tropical storm over the warm Caribbean waters before making landfall on the southern coast of central Cuba overnight, the office said, warning of coastal flooding and winds of 80-100 km per hour.
Flooding could be a problem more broadly, given Cuba was already waterlogged in the wake of heavy rains and Eta could potentially dump more than 300mm of water on central and mountainous regions.
Meanwhile, about 150 people have died or remain unaccounted for in Guatemala due to mudslides caused by powerful storm Eta, which devastated an indigenous village in the country’s north
The toll is in addition to the approximately two dozen people who died elsewhere in Central America since Eta made landfall in Nicaragua on Tuesday as a hurricane.
Eta tore through Central America, leaving death and destruction in its wake since it first rocked Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane.
Two days later it exited Honduras as a tropical depression, although forecasters warned it could again strengthen into a tropical storm as it heads towards Cuba.
The storm brought heavy rain that caused deadly flooding in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama.
-CHK
