Tropical Storm Nate Sweeps Through Central America

Tropical Storm Nate left at least 28 people dead across Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras as it made landfall with heavy winds and rain on October 5. Landslides and floods severely damaged bridges and roads throughout the region. According to the Associated Press, the storm, which has been reduced to a post-tropical cyclone since it hit, reached maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour. In Costa Rica, at least 11 deaths have been reported, making Nate a deadlier storm than Hurricane Otto, which killed ten people in November 2016. Nate also forced 5,000 people into temporary emergency shelters and left hundreds of thousands without power. Crocodiles were seen roaming the streets as rivers swelled.

President Luis Guillermo Solís declared a state of national emergency for the country early on October 5. The Costa Rican government has since requested $200,000 from the Inter-American Development Bank to meet the costs of the immediate emergency response.

At least 15 people died in Nicaragua, where heavy rainfall over the past two weeks had already left the ground saturated and rivers overflowing. In 24 hours, an additional eight inches of rain fell in the southwestern part of the country. The government declared a state of emergency and closed schools nationwide.

The storm killed three people in Honduras, including ‘‘two youths who drowned in a river,’’ reported BBC. Mudslides and flooding destroyed roads, bridges, and many homes in all three countries.

After sweeping through Central America, the storm headed north across the Gulf of Mexico, reaching Alabama and Mississippi on October 8, where it has left 67,000 homes without electricity. New Orleans and many counties in Florida remain in a state of alert. Nate is expected to continue moving inland toward the U.S. Northeast at a much lower level of intensity.