Parts of the Central American countries of Honduras y Nicaragua They are this Wednesday under hurricane alert due to the probable formation of Sarawhich would be the 19th named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends on November 30.
The meteorologists of United States National Hurricane Center (NHC, in English), based in Miami (Florida), predict that the system will maintain a westward movement during the next few days.
On the forecast track, the center of the system will move across the Caribbean Sea and slow down as it approaches the coast of Central America.
Potential Tropical Cyclone number 19 is located about 735 kilometers east of Guanaja Island (Honduras) and 470 kilometers from Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the border between this country and Nicaragua.
The system presents maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour and is moving towards the west with a travel speed of 9 kilometers per hour.
The Honduran government issued a hurricane warning from Punta Castilla eastward to the border with Nicaragua, while the second put under surveillance an area from the border with Honduras southward to Puerto Cabezas.
The system is expected to become Tropical Storm Sara this Thursday and continue to strengthen as it moves near the coast of Central America, the US National Hurricane Center said in its most recent bulletin.
Until early next week, heavy rainfall is expected over northern Honduras that may cause “flash flooding, landslides and be potentially catastrophic,” especially along and near the Sierra La Esperanza.
According to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), The Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on June 1 and ends on November 30, will have “above” average activitywith between 8 and 13 hurricanes, of which between 4 and 7 would be of major category.
Since this year’s season began, eleven hurricanes have formed: Beryl, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Helene, Isaac, Kirk, Lesley, Milton, Óscar and Rafael, of which Beryl and Milton reached category 5, the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.
(With information from EFE)
