Hurricane Julia hits Nicaragua with torrential rainfall

People walk past a damaged house in the aftermath of Hurricane Julia in San Andres island, Colombia Credit: AP

Hurricane Julia hit Nicaragua's central Caribbean coast on Sunday and dumped torrential rains across Central America before an expected reemergence over the Pacific.

Julia hit as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph), though its winds had dipped to tropical storm force of 60 mph (95 kph), by early afternoon as it pushed across Nicaragua.

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The US National Hurricane Center said Julia was centered about 20 miles (35 kilometres) north-northeast of Managua, the capital, and was moving west at 16 mph (26 kph).

It said life-threatening flash floods and mudslides were possible across Central America and southern Mexico through Tuesday, with the storm expected to bring as much as 15 inches (38 centimetres) of rain in isolated areas.

Colombia's national disaster agency reported on Sunday that Julia blew the roofs off several houses and knocked over trees as it blasted past San Andres Island east of Nicaragua. There were no immediate reports of fatalities

Cars are parked on a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Julia in San Andres island, Colombia Credit: AP

In Nicaragua, Vice President Rosario Murillo told TN8 television that there had been no reports of deaths so far, but power and communications were cut to some areas. She said that 9,500 people had been evacuated to shelters.

Local news media showed images of trees toppled across roads and local flooding.

Heavy rains and evacuations were also reported in Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica, where some highways were closed due to the downpours.

Guillermo González, director of Nicaragua’s Disaster Response System, told official media that people at high risk had been evacuated from coastal areas by noon Saturday. The army said it delivered humanitarian supplies to Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas for distribution to 118 temporary shelters.

The storm was forecast to emerge over the Pacific and skirt the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala, a region already saturated by weeks of heavy rains.

In Guatemala, storms since early May had already caused caused at least 49 confirmed deaths, with six people missing. Roads and hundreds of homes have been damaged, Guatemalan officials say.

In El Salvador, where 19 people have died this rainy season, the worst rainfall was expected on Monday and Tuesday, said Fernando López, the minister of environmental and natural resources. Officials said they had opened 61 shelters with the capacity to house more than 3,000 people.

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