Tropical storm Eta, after leaving nearly 200 dead or missing in Central America, was approaching the Florida coast on Sunday evening, threatening to turn into a hurricane. According to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) at 7:00 p.m., the storm was registering strong winds with gusts of up to 100 km / h and was 90 miles south of Miami, where its effects were already starting to wane. to be smelled.
“A strengthening is expected during tomorrow and Eta is expected to become a hurricane approaching or over the Florida Keys between tonight and Monday morning,” the NHC warns. South Florida has been placed on hurricane warning or alert, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, already hit by flooding, according to TV footage.
Fear of major flooding
Authorities have called on residents of the affected areas to leave their homes and seek safety. “Flooding is the number one concern,” Dan Hayes of Key West’s Margaritaville restaurant told local chain 10. “So we decided not to open today, we are concerned about the safety of our staff,” he said. he added.
According to local company Florida Power & Light, tens of thousands of homes are already without electricity. The most affected are the counties of Miami-Dade (30,700) and Broward (42,300) as well as the city of Palm Beach (40,700). Florida Governor Ron De Santis declared a state of emergency in southern counties on Saturday. Schools will be closed in the Southern Keys on Monday, Covid-19 testing sites have been temporarily closed and authorities have opened shelters and started distributing sandbags so people can protect homes from flooding.
Heavy toll in Central America
Eta struck Cuba during the day where the authorities have not yet reported any casualties or damage, but the island will still experience rains and swells. The storm swept through tourist sites in the Jardines del Rey archipelago, but according to state television, the 600 foreign tourists who were there were taken to safety. Heavy rains had been reported in the eastern part of Cuba, where civil defense and local authorities had evacuated thousands of people to safe areas for fear of flooding as the soils were already waterlogged and the reservoirs full. Eta, which made landfall on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua on Tuesday in a powerful category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 km / h, gradually weakened as it passed Nicaragua and Honduras.
Its torrential rains also affected Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, as well as Mexico, where the authorities of Chiapas, one of the poorest states of the country, announced the discovery of at least twenty dead, for most of them washed away by flooding rivers. The heaviest toll is in Guatemala, with at least 150 dead or missing, and rescuers continued on Saturday to search for survivors after the landslide caused by the hurricane in the indigenous village of Queja (north). In Honduras, authorities on Saturday announced a death toll of at least 23 after heavy flooding.

Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.