OK, another story making headlines today — Hurricane Eta. A very powerful category four storm made landfall in the Central American nation of Nicaragua on Tuesday. This is what it looked like as it approached the coast.
Hurricane Eta was a relatively slow-moving storm that could bring the worst flooding Nicaragua had seen since Hurricane Mitch struck there in 1998. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says deadly conditions could remain in the region for days because Eta's rains could cause landslides, river flooding and flash flooding which can occur within a few hours of heavy rainfall.
Nicaragua is the poorest nation in Central America, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It estimates almost 30 percent of Nicaraguans live below the poverty line. A Catholic priest who lives in the coastal city of Puerto Cabezas says some houses there are made of wood and adobe, a type of clay. He told the "Reuters" news agency, that's the city's main weakness.

Even before Hurricane Eta hit, roofs were reportedly being ripped off homes. Puerto Cabezas had lost power and its storm shelters were filled up.
Besides its wind speeds of around 145 miles per hour, the storm was predicted to bring a major storm surge, a rise in seawater levels blown ashore by a hurricane. Forecasters said they could be as much as 21 feet higher than then normal tide, so their affects could be catastrophic for coastal Nicaragua and neighboring Honduras.
Hurricane Eta is the 28th named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season. That ties the record set in 2005. Weather agencies counted 27 storms that year, but the National Hurricane Center decided that after the 2005 season was over, there was a 28th storm that should have been named but wasn't. So, this officially ties the 28 storms named in 2005.
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