Costa Rico and eastern Nicaragua are bracing themselves for the arrival of Hurricane Otto today (thurs 24th). Cat. 2 #Otto
The Atlantic hurricane season runs, officially, from 1st June until 30th November. This season started off bizarrely early with Hurricane Alex in mid January and now we have the 7th hurricane of the 2016 season Hurricane Otto. Otto has been churning through the Caribbean Sea and is forecast to make landfall today (24/11/16) over Costa Rica and Nicaragua. A Hurricane watch is also out for the far north of Panama.
This storm is still quite late in the season and well far south, from the usual paths of Atlantic cyclones.
The Panama canal seems to be functioning as usual with procedures in place to deal with surrounding flooding. Heavy rain from Otto has already caused deaths in Panama from landslides and falling trees. With further heavy rain for central America, mudslides, landslides and flooding are all of concern, along with the damaging winds. Schools and universities are closed andcCruise ships in the region are already avoiding Limon, Costa Rica.
A State of Emergency has been declared in Costa Rica, with numerous regions covered by Red alerts for torrential rain from the National Meteorological Institute. The worst of the winds will be on the eastern side for Costa Rica and Nicaragua but the rain problems will continue to affect a large area of Central America.
Inland, central parts are mountainous, so this will weak Otto quite quickly on its path westwards but also funnel the heavy rains to both sides of the countries resulting in the dangerous landslides. There are warnings for dangerous storm surge, life threatening surf and rip currents, large and destructive waves.
National Hurricane Centre US:
RAINFALL: Total rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated amounts of 15 to 20 inches, can be expected across northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua through today. These rains will likely result in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
WIND: Hurricane conditions are expected to reach the hurricane warning area late this morning or early this afternoon, with tropical storm conditions expected to begin shortly. Hurricane conditions are possible in the hurricane watch area today. Tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua today. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning area along the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua by this evening.
This update on Twitter 10:57am. Now a Category 2 Hurricane
Community forum thread - Hurricane Otto
