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INSIDECOSTARICA
| Friday
24 September 2010 |
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New
Storm
Threatens
Rain-Soaked
Central
America
(AFP) -
Strengthening
Tropical
Storm
Matthew
raced
toward
Central
America
Friday
and
threatened
to
strengthen
into a
hurricane
as it
headed
west
over
warm
water
towards
the
already
rain-soaked
region.
Central
America
is
facing
one of
the most
intense
rainy
seasons
in the
last 60
years,
with
flooding
and
landslides
that
have
killed
more
than 300
people
and
caused
serious
damage
in
recent
months.
Matthew
is
forecast
to make
landfall
near the
Nicaragua-Honduras
border
late
Friday
or early
Saturday,
and
authorities
are
bracing
for more
flooding
as soil
across
much of
the
region
is
already
saturated
with
water
from the
season's
earlier
storms.
At 0900
GMT, the
center
of
Matthew
was
about
240
miles
(390
kilometers)
east of
Puerto
Cabezas,
Nicaragua,
packing
maximum
sustained
winds of
50 miles
(85
kilometers)
per
hour,
with
higher
gusts,
the
Miami-based
National
Hurricane
Center
said.
"Additional
strengthening
is
forecast
during
the next
48
hours,
and
Matthew
could
become a
hurricane
by
Saturday,"
the NHC
said,
adding
that the
storm
was
moving
towards
the west
at 16
miles
(26
kilometers)
per
hour.
Matthew
is
expected
to dump
between
six and
10
inches
of rain
over
parts of
Nicaragua
and
Honduras,
with up
to 15
inches
possible
in
isolated
areas.
"These
rainfall
totals
may
produce
life-threatening
flash
floods
and mud
slides,"
the NHC
said.
Nicaraguan
President
Daniel
Ortega
ordered
coastal
evacuations
ahead of
Matthew's
storm
surge
that was
expected
to reach
its
remote
Caribbean
shoreline
early
Friday.
Panama
also put
hundreds
of miles
(kilometers)
of its
northern
shores
on storm
alert,
despite
Matthew
travelling
away
from its
territory,
while
the
government
of
Belize
placed
it's
entire
coastline
-- set
for a
direct
landfall
-- on a
hurricane
watch.
A storm
surge
"is
expected
to
produce
some
coastal
flooding
near and
to the
north"
of the
area
where
Matthew
makes
landfall.
"Near
the
coast,
the
surge
will be
accompanied
by large
and
dangerous
waves,"
said the
NHC.
On its
forecast
track,
the
center
of
Matthew
will
graze
the
northern
coast of
Honduras,
then
cross
water
again in
a
northwesterly
direction
and
strike
Belize
on
Tuesday,
and
Mexico's
Yucatan
peninsula
the
following
days.
Since
the
arrival
of
Tropical
Storm
Agatha
in late
May,
heavy
rain has
caused
destruction
in
Guatemala,
Nicaragua,
Honduras
and El
Salvador.
Costa
Rica,
Honduras
and
Nicaragua
all
declared
states
of
alert.
Only
Panama
will be
spared
in the
region.
Guatemalan
President
Alvaro
Colom
declared
a "state
of
national
emergency"
on
Saturday
due to
the
heavy
rain and
flooding.
At least
36
people
have
been
killed
in
Guatemala,
40
people
are
missing,
and some
11,500
evacuated
by the
flooding,
which
has
caused
some 1.5
billion
dollars
in
damage.
In
Mexico
this
month at
least 14
people
died
from
Hurricane
Karl-related
flooding
or
landslides
in
Veracruz,
where
authorities
said
half a
million
people
have
been
affected.
Veracruz
governor
Fidel
Herrera
said
Thursday
that the
storm
system
left
some 3.9
billion
dollars
in
damages
in its
wake.
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Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
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