Hurricane Iota strengthened to a Category 5 storm Monday morning as it takes aim on the same part of Central America that was hit by Hurricane Eta earlier this month.
The hurricane is "forecast to bring catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge and torrential rainfall to Central America," the National Hurricane Center said.
Iota continued to intensify over the western Caribbean as it approached Nicaragua and Honduras. U.S. Air Force hurricane hunters flew into Iota’s core and measured maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, the Hurricane Center said. As of 10 a.m. ET, it was centered about 100 miles east-southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and was moving westward at 9 mph.
Iota is the first Category 5 hurricane of the season and the strongest hurricane so late in the calendar year ever recorded, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Hurricane watches and warnings were in effect the coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras.
The Hurricane Center said "this is a catastrophic situation unfolding for northeastern Nicaragua with an extreme storm surge of 15-20 feet forecast along with destructive winds and potentially 30 inches of rainfall. It is exacerbated by the fact that it should make landfall in almost the exact same location that category 4 Hurricane Eta did about two weeks ago."
Should Iota make landfall in Nicaragua as a hurricane, it would be only the second time in history the country would be hit by two hurricanes in one season, AccuWeather said.
Evacuations were being conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their shared border, which appeared to be Iota's likely landfall. Winds and rain were already being felt on the Nicaraguan coast Sunday night.
All of Honduras was on high alert, with compulsory evacuations that began before the weekend. By Sunday evening 63,500 people were reported to be in 379 shelters just in the northern coastal region.
Nicaraguan officials said that by late Sunday afternoon about 1,500 people, nearly half of them children, had been evacuated from low-lying areas in the country's northeast, including all the inhabitants of Cayo Misquitos. Authorities said 83,000 people in that region were in danger.
Wind and rain were beginning to be felt Sunday night in Bilwi, a coastal Nicaraguan city where people crowded markets and hardware stores during the day in search of plastic sheeting, nails and other materials to reinforce their homes, just as they did when Hurricane Eta hit on Nov. 3.
Eta already wreaked havoc. It hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, killing at least 120 people as torrential rains caused flash floods and mudslides in parts of Central America and Mexico. Then it meandered across Cuba, the Florida Keys and around the Gulf of Mexico before slogging ashore again near Cedar Key, Florida, and dashing across Florida and the Carolinas.
Iota was forecast to drop 8 to 16 inches of rain in northern Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and southern Belize, with as much as 30 inches in isolated spots. Costa Rica and Panama could also experience heavy rain and possible flooding, the hurricane center said.
Iota is the record 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season. Such activity has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing wetter, stronger and more destructive storms.
The official end of hurricane season is Nov. 30.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Iota: Category 5 storm forecast to hit Central America