President Gustavo Petro confirmed this Saturday afternoon that tropical storm Julia, now a hurricane, has reached the island of San Andrés. “The entire hotel infrastructure must open space for shelters for the vulnerable population,” the head of state initially said. Later, he confirmed that the hurricane is over the island and hopes that it will not have consequences such as those suffered during the passage of Hurricane Iota, which hit the island on November 16, 2020 and left much destruction in its wake.
“According to the latest report from @NHC_Atlantic, we confirm the declaration of Julia as a category 1 hurricane just as it passes through the island of San Andrés, with sustained winds of 120 km/h and It moves at a speed of 28 km/h. The state of alarm continues”, reported Ideam on the sidelines of the statement by the head of state.
“That is the report we have,” said the president about the now hurricane and to confirm the arrival of the natural phenomenon. Petro added that he is preparing to travel to San Andrés as soon as weather conditions allow. “We have the PMU (Unified Command Post), which is the instrument of action ready and we hope that people have achieved the greatest coverage, shelters, which is what we have been looking for throughout this day,” added President Petro. The head of state added that “tomorrow we will have, according to the result of the hurricane, concrete information and immediate actions to reactivate the island.”
Although there is still no official census established, the governor of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Everth Hawkins Sjogreen, reported that the passage of Hurricane Julia caused several emergencies in some sectors of the archipelago.
Due to the above, the departmental president announced that he will adopt the declaration of public calamity to speed up the attainment of resources.
“The purpose is to intervene and incorporate resources and address the situation quickly. It is easy for no one to have their home and not have a roof”, the president pointed out.
In the particular case of Providencia, Hawkins announced that four affected houses were reported. At a general level, he highlighted that the tourists in Providencia heeded the call and went to the shelters. In San Andrés, a total of 71 people used the shelters.
The disaster management unit noted that so far there have been no damages to people. Although the hurricane moves away from the island, the authorities said that they are still on alert for its transit.
“We are going to have more effects. I know there are trees falling, roofs flying everywhere let’s safeguard, “said the governor.
On the island the curfew remains until further notice considering that the critical hours still remain.
“Only the authorities are going to go out to assess the damage that the phenomenon may cause. We are getting the kick. Much stronger gusts are expected so we request extreme measures. The most important thing is to follow the recommendations,” noted the departmental president.
According to the authorities, the effects were not so serious due to the dynamics of the system. “Thank God the hurricane formed just above the island, if it had formed earlier, for example 100 kilometers before reaching San Andrés, it was likely that we would be receiving a category two or three hurricane,” said Hawkins, who will take advantage the visit of President Gustavo Petro to ask for help.
After San Andrés, his journey
Central America was preparing for the arrival of Julia, a tropical cyclone that is moving through the Caribbean and is expected to become a hurricane before making landfall on the Nicaraguan coast, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (CNH).
According to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies of Colombia (IDEAM), Julia advances at a speed close to 30 km per hour with sustained winds of 93 kilometers per hour, according to the entity. “Sustained winds of 119 km/h or more are likely to occur and strong and extreme accumulated rainfall is expected that could exceed 120 mm, electrical storms, wind gusts and storm surge in the archipelago area,” IDEAM warned in a statement. bulletin.
The CNH warned that rains over the weekend could cause life-threatening “flash floods and mudslides” in Central America.
Julia would be the second hurricane of the 2022 season in the Central American Caribbean, after Bonnie, a category two hurricane, crossed southern Nicaragua in July and reached the Pacific, leaving at least three dead and extensive material damage.
On November 16, 2020, Hurricane Iota hit San Andrés with force and left two dead, several injured and millionaires destroyed. Climate change causes an increase in temperature in the surface layers of the oceans, leading to more powerful and water-bearing hurricanes and storms that pose a more dangerous threat to coastal communitiesaccording to studies by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Bluefields rushes preparations
In Bluefields, the main city in the southern Caribbean of Nicaragua threatened by the arrival of the cyclone, the fishermen put their boats in shelter and the population rushed to buy groceries and withdraw money from ATMs. “We have to prepare with food, plastics, a little of everything, because we don’t know what will happen,” Javier Duarte, a cabinetmaker who prays that the cyclone is not powerful and diverts its route from Bluefields, a municipality, told AFP. with flimsy structures of around 60,000 inhabitants. “We have already had some experiences of hurricanes in Nicaragua, and we are likely to experience” a similar situation, said Constantino Rivera, a 47-year-old fisherman who was ordered to return to land.
For its part, the National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention of Disasters of Nicaragua (SINAPRED) declared this Saturday a yellow alert throughout the country and activated the relief units. The Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (Ineter) reported that the storm Tropical “is rapidly strengthening” and is heading towards the southern Caribbean of the country, where it is estimated that it could impact the Laguna de Perlas area, north of Bluefields.
The government recommended that residents protect their homes and be ready “to evacuate and go to a shelter when necessary.” The Naval Force of the same country, suspended from Thursday the departure permits for fishing vessels until further notice.
Honduras to save lives
In Honduras, the government announced on Friday in a statement that “for prevention and safety of the lives of people” who live in the northern Sula Valley, it will begin “controlled preventive discharges” from El Cajón, the main dam, on Saturday. hydroelectric plant in the country, which has an area of 94 km2. He predicts that “the storm Julia will directly affect the national territory” in the rivers that feed El Cajón. After passing through the turbines of the hydroelectric plant, the waters are later deposited in the mighty Ulúa and Chamelecón.
The overflow of the Ulúa and Chamelecón, due to the rains that fell in the last ten days of September, forced the evacuation of more than 12,000 people in areas near San Pedro Sula, the second largest city and industrial capital of the country. This is the area most threatened by Julia. In Guatemala, President Alejandro Giammatei announced on Twitter that he has given instructions so that institutions are ready to serve and support Guatemalans who may be affected.
Meanwhile, the state Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), andIn charge of civil protection of this nation, this Saturday declared an institutional red alert in the 22 departments of the country due to Cyclone Julia. The cloud bands of this rainy system will also reach Honduras and El Salvador. The relief agencies of these countries are attentive to its development and prepare conditions for eventual evacuations.
In November 2020, Hurricane Iota impacted and caused damage in Bilwi, the main municipality in the northern Caribbean region of Nicaragua, 14 days after Hurricane Eta passed through the same place.