The Prague Post - Julia becomes hurricane as it closes in on Central America

EUR -
AED 4.298308
AFN 81.92842
ALL 98.084438
AMD 449.658082
ANG 2.094583
AOA 1073.261444
ARS 1468.279515
AUD 1.797333
AWG 2.106729
AZN 1.991668
BAM 1.950584
BBD 2.361684
BDT 142.702048
BGN 1.952874
BHD 0.441244
BIF 3442.161504
BMD 1.170405
BND 1.495414
BOB 8.082386
BRL 6.37672
BSD 1.169772
BTN 100.183093
BWP 15.616838
BYN 3.827896
BYR 22939.94066
BZD 2.349537
CAD 1.601886
CDF 3377.78954
CHF 0.933357
CLF 0.02875
CLP 1103.282348
CNY 8.396545
CNH 8.408618
COP 4742.04856
CRC 591.323751
CUC 1.170405
CUP 31.015736
CVE 110.718148
CZK 24.646426
DJF 208.0043
DKK 7.461362
DOP 70.350158
DZD 151.75855
EGP 58.145374
ERN 17.556077
ETB 159.672582
FJD 2.63493
FKP 0.862316
GBP 0.862764
GEL 3.171819
GGP 0.862316
GHS 12.166116
GIP 0.862316
GMD 83.688631
GNF 10131.027064
GTQ 8.990189
GYD 244.728101
HKD 9.187663
HNL 30.84028
HRK 7.530413
HTG 153.519463
HUF 400.091736
IDR 19027.510373
ILS 3.917797
IMP 0.862316
INR 100.486011
IQD 1533.230728
IRR 49303.316231
ISK 142.964601
JEP 0.862316
JMD 186.69553
JOD 0.829797
JPY 172.183562
KES 151.572338
KGS 102.35198
KHR 4706.199287
KMF 492.135958
KPW 1053.33889
KRW 1609.04963
KWD 0.357653
KYD 0.974835
KZT 607.784679
LAK 25222.230108
LBP 104868.299941
LKR 351.638671
LRD 234.666446
LSL 20.82134
LTL 3.455902
LVL 0.707966
LYD 6.317227
MAD 10.539461
MDL 19.797818
MGA 5184.89504
MKD 61.456221
MMK 2457.274227
MNT 4200.068068
MOP 9.458292
MRU 46.470981
MUR 52.797044
MVR 18.017904
MWK 2032.412478
MXN 21.795138
MYR 4.979492
MZN 74.859293
NAD 20.821752
NGN 1792.545747
NIO 43.012461
NOK 11.837998
NPR 160.294714
NZD 1.958001
OMR 0.450015
PAB 1.169682
PEN 4.148497
PGK 4.827984
PHP 66.236151
PKR 332.687497
PLN 4.243969
PYG 9322.309495
QAR 4.260981
RON 5.080258
RSD 117.17157
RUB 91.876031
RWF 1678.360965
SAR 4.389513
SBD 9.757579
SCR 16.795029
SDG 702.829472
SEK 11.168743
SGD 1.499763
SHP 0.919755
SLE 26.33756
SLL 24542.814783
SOS 668.884838
SRD 43.683615
STD 24225.023271
SVC 10.234892
SYP 15217.759559
SZL 20.821484
THB 38.256993
TJS 11.235231
TMT 4.108122
TND 3.388456
TOP 2.741205
TRY 46.869412
TTD 7.935846
TWD 34.069936
TZS 3090.09425
UAH 48.858496
UGX 4204.755761
USD 1.170405
UYU 46.96561
UZS 14893.405655
VES 131.422218
VND 30603.168287
VUV 139.633925
WST 3.222549
XAF 654.218686
XAG 0.032033
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.163078
XDR 0.812997
XOF 651.915763
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.061714
ZAR 20.832029
ZMK 10535.048293
ZMW 28.335227
ZWL 376.869976
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Julia becomes hurricane as it closes in on Central America
Julia becomes hurricane as it closes in on Central America / Photo: Oswaldo RIVAS - AFP

Julia becomes hurricane as it closes in on Central America

Former tropical storm Julia turned into a hurricane Saturday as it swirled towards Central America, where it is expected to make landfall along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, weather forecasters said.

Text size:

In Bluefields, one of the main Nicaraguan coastal towns expected to be buffeted by the storm, fishermen were busy safeguarding their boats and people rushed to buy groceries and withdraw money from ATMs.

"Julia has become a hurricane with 75 mile-per-hour (120 kilometer-per-hour) maximum sustained winds as it passes near San Andres and Providencia Islands," which belong to Colombia, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Julia is classified as a Category One storm, on the low side of the five-tier Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

It is expected to make landfall in Nicaragua overnight, then move across the country on Sunday before traveling near or along the Pacific coasts of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala through Monday, the NHC said.

If Julia stays on its current course, it will make landfall as a Category One hurricane between the coastal communities of Orinoco and Laguna de Perlas, north of Bluefields, said Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, citing official reports.

Nicaragua has evacuated some 6,000 people in the Laguna de Perlas area, in the Miskito keys located off the coast, and in other zones.

"We have to prepare with food, plastic, a little bit of everything, because we don't know what's going to happen," Javier Duarte, a cabinetmaker in Bluefields, told AFP.

The municipality of some 60,000 inhabitants has many flimsy structures.

The NHC said that "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides" were possible due to heavy rain "over Central America and Southern Mexico through early next week."

The storm's center was about 20 miles southwest of Colombia's San Andres Island and about 125 miles northeast of Bluefields as of 0000 GMT Sunday, the NHC said.

Julia is set to strike Central America less than two weeks after deadly Hurricane Ian crashed into the southwest of the US state of Florida, in one of the deadliest US hurricanes on record.

The Category 4 storm flattened whole neighborhoods on the Sunshine State's west coast. More than 100 people were killed according to US media.

W.Cejka--TPP