© Reuters
Hurricane Otto is seen approaching the coast of Central America
Hurricane Otto is seen approaching the coast of Central America
The storm was weakening rapidly on Thursday evening after hitting the southeastern coast of Nicaragua, and was expected to become a tropical storm by early Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning was also in effect in neighboring Costa Rica, where fallen trees, blackouts and flooding were reported.
Costa Rica's National Emergency Commission said thousands had been affected by the storm and emergency alerts had been issued throughout the country.
Otto, the seventh Atlantic hurricane of the season, landed north of the town of San Juan de Nicaragua as a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, the Miami-based hurricane center said. Thousands of people were evacuated from its path.
It had weakened to a Category 1 storm as of Thursday night, with top sustained winds of 75 mph (121 kph), about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of San Carlos, Nicaragua.
Soon after the storm landed, a 7.0 magnitude quake struck 93 miles (149 km) southwest of Puerto Triunfo, El Salvador, at a depth of 6.4 miles (10.3 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Comment: Otto was the southernmost hurricane on record to hit Central America. It also set a new record for the latest hurricane to ever form in the Caribbean.
The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reported that the eye of Hurricane Otto made landfall in Costa Rica at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the northern Alajuela canton of Los Chiles, making it the country's first hurricane landfall in recorded history (since 1851).