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Source: ONE News -
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Hurricane Ida weakened to a tropical storm as it churned through
eastern Nicaragua after cutting power and ripping roofs on
little-developed Caribbean islands.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from flimsy homes on the Corn
Islands, near the port of Bluefields, as Ida drenched the remote
Miskito coast with heavy rain. The US National Hurricane Center
warned of floods and mudslides.
Ida's winds had decreased to near 100 kph and further weakening was
likely as the storm moves up into Honduras during the next two
days. The storm was nearly stationary about 125 km north of
Bluefields, the Miami-based NHC said.
Ida is expected to regain strength after it moves back over the
Caribbean sea on Saturday, and could enter the oil and gas-rich
Gulf of Mexico next week.
General Mario Perez-Cassar, Nicaragua's civil defense chief, said
strong winds ripped roofs and knocked out power in Big Corn Island
and Little Corn Island, home to shrimp and lobster fishermen.
"They are without power, all the electric lines are down, there are
trees on the roads and no running water," Perez-Cassar told local
television.
Floods and mud slides possible
The NHC said Ida could produce up to 51 cm of rain as it moves over
eastern Nicaragua and into Honduras, risking dangerous flash floods
and mud slides.
Nicaragua and Honduras are important coffee exporters, and
harvesting has been under way since October, but farms are mainly
in mountainous areas further inland.
Persistent heavy rain could knock ripe cherries off coffee trees if
it moves inland, however, and mudslides could cut off roads to
coffee farms, Luis Osorio, technical director at the national
coffee council, said.
Nicaragua is also a key sugar grower, but plantations are nearer
the Pacific coast, well away from the storm's path, and growers did
not see a serious impact on production.
At worst the harvest, due to start on November 11, could be delayed
a few days by rain, said Mario Amador, head of the national sugar
producers' association. He added that Nicaragua should have no
problem filling its sugar export quotas to Mexico, which faces a
shortfall this year.
Nearly 2,000 people in the Corn Islands and Sandy Bay were
evacuated to shelters before Ida hit. "We are expecting serious
impact on infrastructure," Perez-Cassar said.
Ida was forecast to pass over Central America and regain strength
by Monday off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
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