Hurricanes Eta & Iota

Overview

In an unprecedented event, two major hurricanes struck Central America within just two weeks. Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua on November 3, 2020 as a Category 4 storm, while Hurricane Iota followed on November 16 as an even stronger Category 4, hitting almost the exact same area. The back-to-back storms caused catastrophic flooding and landslides across Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Belize. Over 200 people were killed and more than 9 million affected. Honduras was hardest hit, with approximately 3 million people impacted and entire communities buried by landslides. The Sula Valley, Honduras's agricultural heartland, was submerged for weeks. The disasters accelerated migration from Central America and overwhelmed local response capacities already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.