MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Julia is gaining power heading westward within the southern Caribbean, and authorities are getting ready for a doable hurricane on Colombian islands and in Nicaragua.
Julia’s most sustained winds had elevated to 45 mph late Friday, the U.S. Nationwide Hurricane Heart stated. The storm was centered about 360 miles east of Providencia Island and transferring west at 17 mph.
Julia was forecast to move close to or over Colombia’s San Andres and Providencia islands Saturday night time on its method to landfall in Nicaragua on Sunday morning.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated through Twitter that the federal government was getting ready shelters on the islands. Officers on San Andres introduced a curfew for residents starting at 6 a.m. Saturday to restrict individuals within the streets.
A hurricane warning is in impact for the 2 islands in addition to Colombia’s Santa Catalina Island and Nicaragua from Laguna de Perlas to Puerto Cabezas, based on the Nationwide Hurricane Heart.
The storm is forecast to strengthen right into a hurricane by Saturday night or night time whereas it strikes over the southwestern Caribbean Sea, the hurricane middle stated.
Yolanda González, director of Colombia’s Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Research Institute, stated Julia may very well be a Class 1 hurricane when it passes the islands.
A larger risk than Julia’s winds have been rains of 5 to 10 inches — as much as 15 inches in remoted areas — that the storm was anticipated to dump throughout Central America.
“This rainfall might trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides via this weekend,” the U.S. Nationwide Hurricane Heart stated.
The storm’s remnants have been forecast to comb throughout Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and southern Mexico, a area already saturated by weeks of heavy rains.
