‘Catastrophic’ hurricane Iota to make landfall in Nicaragua as category 5 storm

Iota is the 30th named storm of a record-smashing 2020 hurricane season

Hurricane Iota strengthened into a "catastrophic" Category 5 hurricane and was set to slam into Central America late Monday, threatening areas devastated by a powerful storm just two weeks ago (AFP via Getty Images)

Hurricane Iota has strengthened into a monster category 5 storm as it approaches Central America, with landfall expected on Monday night.

The extremely dangerous system underwent “explosive intensification” according to AccuWeather, with windspeeds growing by 40mph in just six hours.

After striking the coast of Nicaragua, where a hurricane warning is in effect, the system will track west across Honduras but will lose intensity, dropping down to a category 1.

Iota is the second most intense hurricane ever to form in the Atlantic during the month of November. The most intense was in 1932 when a storm with 175mph winds struck Cuba.

Extreme winds are forecast, with gusts up to 200 mph in some places, as well as a life-threatening storm surge of between 15-20 feet, and up to 30 inches of rain.

Heavy rain will continue through much of the week with flash flooding and mudslides likely — potentially the worst floods the region has ever recorded.

Central America is already in the grips of a humanitarian crisis after Hurricane Eta struck the same stretch of coast as a category 4 less than two weeks ago on 3 November.

It is unprecedented to see two storms of this intensity strike the same area within two weeks of each other.

More than 100 people died in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, with Covid-19 complicating recovery efforts.

That storm, which followed the same track as Iota is expected to, then took a sharp turn to the east and meandered its way across Cuba and up the western coast of Florida.

As of Monday afternoon, Iota was just 80 miles from the city of Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua, home to 100,000 people.

The 2020 hurricane season ha broken records with 30 named storms toppling the record set in 2005 of 28 named storms.

Of the 30 storms, six were major hurricanes, including four out of the last six. The worst of the season came after the usual peak in August and September.

This is also the fifth year in a row to produce a category 5 storm — another record.

Warmer waters caused by climate change causes both rapid intensifications of hurricanes, as well as extending the length of the season.