Category Archives: Hurricanes

Hurricane Eta lashes Nicaragua, raising fears of disastrous floods

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Many thousands evacuated as storm moves inland, wrenching roofs off houses, downing trees and severing power lines in Puerto Cabezas

Hurricane Eta, an unusually powerful storm, has slammed into Nicaragua, bringing potentially disastrous flooding to one of the country’s poorest regions.

The heart of the storm begin to move inland on Tuesday, wrenching roofs off houses and causing rivers to overflow. In Puerto Cabezas on the Atlantic coast,trees were torn down and power lines were severed, plunging much of the city into darkness. About 10,000 people were in shelters in the city and an equal number in smaller towns across the region, according to city officials.

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Tropical storm Eta expected to become hurricane and heads to Central America

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System formed in the Caribbean and tied record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season

Forecasters said they expected the newly-formed Tropical storm Eta to become a hurricane by Monday, shortly after the system formed in the Caribbean and tied the record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season.

Related: Is climate change making hurricanes worse?

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Hurricane Zeta kills at least six as 100mph winds race through south

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More than 2.6 million without power in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with life-threatening weather to continue

More than 2.6 million customers were without power on Thursday morning across several southern states and at least six people had been killed after Hurricane Zeta howled ashore in Louisiana with winds over 100mph then weakened to a tropical storm and raced through the region.

According to the website PowerOutage.us, shortly after dawn at least 2 million were without electricity in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and the number grew from there. Georgia has the most outages, with more than 800,000 people in the dark.

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Storm Zeta strengthens into hurricane as it approaches Mexico and US

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Zeta, the earliest ever 27th named storm of the Atlantic season, is expected to head to Gulf of Mexico and then the US by Wednesday

Storm Zeta has strengthened into a hurricane as it churned towards beach resorts on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, which it is expected to rake with strong winds and heavy rain before making possible landfall in the US later this week.

Zeta – the earliest ever 27th named storm of the Atlantic season – was centered about 90 miles (145km) south-east of Cozumel island Monday afternoon, the US National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 80mph (130kph).

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Ricardo’s ark: Mexican man opens his home to 300 dogs in path of hurricane

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Ricardo Pimentel’s menagerie also included cats, rabbits, chicks, sheep and a hedgehog evacuated from his animal shelter

As Hurricane Delta closed in on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, Ricardo Pimentel opened his home – to about 300 dogs.

Related: Tens of thousands flee as Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico's Yucatán peninsula

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Tens of thousands flee as Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula

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  • Category 2 storm hits Puerto Morelos in early morning
  • Louisiana braced for Delta’s arrival later in the week

Tens of thousands of residents and holiday-makers were evacuated and sought refuge in emergency shelters on Wednesday as Hurricane Delta made landfall on the coast of northeastern Mexico in the early hours of the morning, lashing popular tourist resorts.

Related: Mexico’s scientists, activists and artists oppose president’s funding overhaul

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Hurricane Delta intensifies to category 4 and on course to hammer Mexico

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  • Delta expected to strike US Gulf coast later in the week
  • Brunt of hurricane expected to be felt in Mexico’s resort region

Hurricane Delta rapidly intensified on Tuesday, becoming a category 4 storm with 140mph winds, on course to hammer south-eastern Mexico and the US Gulf coast.

Related: Top Pentagon leaders quarantine amid White House Covid outbreak – live

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US runs out of Atlantic hurricane names as frenetic season continues

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  • Naming shifts to Greek letters after 21-name list is exhausted
  • Texas coast prepares for tropical storm Beta

So many powerful storms have formed over the Atlantic this year that for only the second time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has run out of names, meaning it is now naming tropical storms and hurricanes with letters from the Greek alphabet.

There are 21 names available each year. The list ends with those beginning with W and excludes Q, U, X, Y and Z. Once that list is exhausted, the nomenclature system switches to the Greek alphabet.

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Hurricane Sally: level-two storm hits Florida and Alabama – video

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Hurricane Sally, a huge grade two storm with 100mph winds and torrential rain, has hit the US’s Gulf coast, reaching Florida and Alabama with fears of ‘life-threatening flooding’.

The storm was moving at only 2mph before dawn on Tuesday, centered about 115 miles south-south-east of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 60 miles east-south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river

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Hurricane Sally: storm hits Gulf coast with ‘life-threatening floods’ still expected

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Torrential rain battering Alabama and Florida is forecast to continue for up to 12 more hours, with wind gusts over 80mph

Hurricane Sally made landfall on the US Gulf coast early on Wednesday morning, with pounding rain and winds whipping above 100mph but with the huge category 2 storm system grinding along at just 2 mph – a turtle’s walking pace – increasing the danger of flooding.

The slow-motion storm exhausted residents in Alabama who listened through the night to tornado-warning sirens, phone alerts and howling winds, many frightened, sheltering but also sweltering indoors after power failures, as the storm approached.

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Record year for Atlantic storms as two new systems form in a day

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Rene becomes storm number 17 of the year, forming earlier than the previous record-holder, Rita in 2005

Tropical storm Rene has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the Atlantic’s earliest R-named storm on record, as the year’s extremely active hurricane season continued.

Rene formed on Monday, breaking the previous record held by Rita in 2005, which formed 18 September.

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Marco and Laura could hit US coast as hurricanes, forecasters say

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  • Louisiana in path of two tropical storms now in Gulf
  • Mississippi governor heralds ‘unprecedented times’

Tropical Storm Marco was swirling over the Gulf of Mexico early on Sunday, heading for a possible hit on the Louisiana coast as a hurricane, while Tropical Storm Laura knocked utilities out as it battered Hispaniola, following a track forecast to take it to the same part of the US coast – also as a hurricane.

Related: Could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season?

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Could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season?

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Experts say they are concerned as two potential hurricanes head north – and coronavirus is complicating matters

Two potential hurricanes are heading towards the northern Caribbean and mainland United States – with a third building in the Atlantic – in apparent confirmation of meteorologists’ predictions that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season will become one of the worst on record.

Related: US faces threat of two Caribbean storms hitting simultaneously as hurricanes

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Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in North Carolina

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Flooding fears as eye of the storm hits the coast with maximum sustained winds of 85mph

Isaias has made landfall in the Carolinas as a category 1 hurricane, bringing with it maximum sustained winds of 85mph (140km/h) and the threat of devastating floods.

The eye of Isaias hit the coast on Monday night near Ocean Isle beach in southern North Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said, hours after being upgraded from a tropical storm.

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Florida closes beaches as Hurricane Isaias barrels through Bahamas

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State readies evacuation centers with social-distancing measures as Bahamas and North Carolina order evacuations

Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early on Saturday and headed toward the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.

Miami’s mayor, Carlos Giménez, said on Friday that 20 evacuation centers were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.

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Hurricane Isaias drenches Bahamas as Florida braces for storm

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Storm expected to produce 4-8in of rain in Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands and remain hurricane for few days

Forecasters declared a hurricane watch for parts of the Florida coastline on Friday, as Hurricane Isaias drenched areas of the Bahamas devastated by Dorian last year, on track for the US east coast.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 75mph and was expected to remain a hurricane for a few days, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

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Hurricane Hanna moves towards Texas as storm Gonzalo nears Caribbean

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Hanna is first hurricane of 2020 Atlantic season and could bring 6in to 12in of rain through Sunday night

Hurricane Hanna rumbled toward the Texas Gulf coast on Saturday, lashing the shore with wind gusts and rain and threatening to bring storm surge and tornadoes to a part of the country trying to cope with a spike in coronavirus cases.

Related: 'A summer unlike any other': heatwaves and Covid-19 are a deadly combination

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Kolkata surveys damage after bearing brunt of Cyclone Amphan

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State chief minister says areas of city will have to be rebuilt from scratch after deadly storm

The Indian city of Kolkata has been left devastated by the worst cyclone it has seen in 100 years, which swept through India and Bangladesh on Wednesday and killed at least 84 people.

Kolkata, home to almost 15 million people, bore the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which tore roofs off buildings, smashed windows, pulled down trees and pylons and overturned cars.

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Hurricane Lorenzo: Ireland braces itself for powerful storm

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Damage expected from the largest recorded storm to make it so far east in north Atlantic

Ireland is bracing for strong winds, downed power lines and coastal flooding when Storm Lorenzo barrels in from the Atlantic before hitting Britain.

Met Éireann, the national meteorological service, issued a status orange wind warning on Wednesday for six counties on the west coast and a yellow warning nationwide for Thursday night and Friday morning.

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