Hurricane Eta was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that wreaked havoc across parts of Central America in early November 2020. It was the record-tying twenty-eighth named storm, twelfth hurricane and fifth major hurricane of the extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. At least 178 fatalities across Central America have been attributed to the storm, including 74 in Honduras, 53 in Guatemala, 27 in Mexico, 19 in Panama, two each in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and one in El Salvador.
About Hurricane Eta in brief
Hurricane Eta was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that wreaked havoc across parts of Central America in early November 2020. It was the record-tying twenty-eighth named storm, twelfth hurricane and fifth major hurricane of the extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. At least 178 fatalities across Central America have been attributed to the storm, including 74 in Honduras, 53 in Guatemala, 27 in Mexico, 19 in Panama, two each in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and one in El Salvador. Eta brought heavy rainfall and gusty winds to the Cayman Islands and Cuba, the latter of which was already dealing with overflowing rivers that prompted evacuations. Relief efforts for those affected by the storm were extensive and widespread, involving several countries. About 98 tons of food and water were given to Nicaragua and Honduras from Panama. Donations worth millions of USD had been given to affected countries to help recoveries. However, just two weeks later, all efforts were hindered greatly by Hurricane Iota, which claimed the lives of 11 people in the U.S. and several others in the Carolinas and Virginia. The storm was the earliest to become a subtropical or tropical storm on record in an Atlantic storm season, surpassing the old mark of December 30, which was set by Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005. It also became the third most intense November Atlantic hurricane on record behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane and Hurricane IOTA just two week later. The system weakened to a tropical depression as it meandered over Central America for two days before moving north over water.
It later reorganized over the Caribbean as it accelerated toward Cuba on November 7. Over the next five days, the system moved erratically, moving through the Florida Keys and stalling in the southern Gulf of Mexico, its intensity fluctuating along the way. After briefly regaining hurricane strength it weakened once more and accelerated across the Southeastern United States on November 12. One person was killed in Florida after being electrocuted in floodwaters from Eta. In all, 11 deaths were attributed to Eta, including one who died after being hit by a falling tree in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and another who was killed after being struck by lightning in the town of San Salvador, El Salvador, in the early morning hours of November 11. The tropical storm watches were issued in parts of Cuba, the northwestern Bahamas, and South Florida. The earliest tropical storm warnings were issued on November 5, in the Cayman island and the northwestern Bahamas and the Cayman Island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines on November 6. The next day, the National Hurricane Center began monitoring the Southwestern Caribbean for the expected development of a broad area of low pressure within the following few days. At 12: 00 UTC on October 29, the area of focus shifted to two merging tropical waves moving into the Eastern Caribbean that were expected to enter the region.
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This page is based on the article Hurricane Eta published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
