![Rescuers wade through a flooded road after the passing of Hurricane Iota in La Lima, Honduras, on November 18 [Delmer Martinez/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP20323766603526.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Nicaragua and Honduras bear the brunt of the hurricane’s destruction amid a record year of storms in the Atlantic.
Nicaragua
![On Tuesday morning, Iota still carried hurricane-force winds as a Category 1 storm, moving inland over northern Nicaragua [Delmer Martinez/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP_20321766633705.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
It is carrying hurricane-force winds over northern Nicaragua and is expected to cross southern Honduras by the evening.
![Satellite image that shows Hurricane Iota in the North Atlantic Ocean. [NOAA via AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP_20321445989435-e1605542814101.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Evacuations are being conducted in Iota’s likely landfall area near the shared border of Nicaragua...
![Iota is expected to become a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Central America [RAMMB/NOAA via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/000_8V98HW.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Evacuations under way in Guatemala and Honduras as 30th named storm of hurricane season set to make...
![View of the Malecon in Havana, Cuba, as Tropical Storm Eta approaches [Yamil Lage/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/000_8UU7VD.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Tropical storm made landfall in Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 100km/h and was headed for southern Florida.
![People board a boat to get to their flooded house during the passage of Storm Eta, in Pimienta, Honduras [Jorge Cabrera/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-11-05T195237Z_63383101_RC27XJ95DF9P_RTRMADP_3_STORM-ETA.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Heavy rains are continuing across the region, increasing the risk of potentially deadly flooding and mudslides.
![Eta weakened from the Category 4 hurricane to a tropical storm after lashing Nicaragua's Caribbean coast for much of Tuesday, its floodwaters isolating already remote communities and setting off deadly landslides [Carlos Herrera/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AP_20309612883674.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The long-term forecast shows Eta taking a turn over Central America and then reforming in the Caribbean.
![Nicaragua's government has issued a hurricane warning from the Honduras-Nicaragua border to Sandy Bay Sirpi. The area includes the town of Puerto Cabezas [File: Miguel Alvarez/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/000_MVD2005102893615.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Forecasters expect Eta to become a hurricane on Monday and hit the coast of Nicaragua on Tuesday.
The worsening coronavirus outbreak in Central America means border closures are still being enforced.
![A prison guard stands at the entrance of La Modelo, after 2,500 prisoners were released due to coronavirus concerns in Nicaragua [Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/13888db95fbc489cbfec9bf877eb4afe_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The Nicaraguan government is using the pandemic as a weapon against dissidents.
![A supporter watches a telecast of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega whose government the Trump administration has accused of human rights abuses, unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions, political persecution and widespread corruption [File: Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/49bcdcfe384c497d8782f0fb08d3371e_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The US on Friday said it blacklisted Juan Carlos Ortega Murillo, accusing him of corruption and spreading propaganda.
![US court strikes down Trump ban on asylum seekers at the US southern border. Here, an eight-year-old unaccompanied minor from Guatemala, who was travelling without guardians, is registered by a border patrol agent [Adrees Latif/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/e9b48ed1e343486d81ff741654ed7475_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Ruling ends restrictive policy that had halted most asylum claims by migrants seeking entry at the US southern border.
Schools and businesses remained open as Daniel Ortega encouraged residents to attend concerts, parades and sporting events but doctors say crisis is now out of control.
![The coffin with the body of a patient who died with symptoms of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, is carried by relatives to be buried at the Oriental Cemetery, in Managua [AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/f83cc3bac9244323b3deb893a57c7efb_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Nicaragua has confirmed 25 cases and eight deaths, but rights groups and experts believe the numbers are far higher.