Hurricane Iota has roared onto Nicaraguas Caribbean coast as a dangerous Category 4 storm on Monday, with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. It hit land along almost exactly the same area that Hurricane Eta devastated 13 days earlier. (Nov. 17) AP Domestic

Hurricane Iota was smashing across Central America on Tuesday, a massive Category 4 storm that blasted ashore less than 15 miles from where powerful Hurricane Eta roared intwo weeks ago.

Iota, the strongest hurricane ever recorded this late in a year,had barely eased from Category 5 status when it began its devastating march through Nicaraguan and into Honduras with sustained winds of 155 mph just two 2 mph below Category 5 status.

The storm could bring one of the worst floods the region has had in a thousand years or more,AccuWeather said. AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde warned that power outages could last for months in some areas.

Hurricane Iota will place another catastrophic blow to the region," Rinde said. "No amount of words can describe the problems this system will add to the crisis already occurring in the area."

Hurricane Eta, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Nov. 3, was among the five strongest storms to ever hit the nation. Eta also brought devastation to Honduras and Guatemala with rain measured in feet, heavy flooding and mudslides. More than 130 people died across the region.

'Extremely dangerous' Hurricane Iota threatens 'catastrophic' damage

Iota, the first Category 5 hurricane of the season, swept onto the coastabout 30 milessouth of the Nicaraguan city of Puerto Cabezas, also known as Bilwi. The stormwas heading west at 12 mph and was forecast to move farther inland across northern Nicaragua andsouthern Honduras Tuesday night and Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

The move over land did ease some of Iota's fury, and maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 75 mph, although some gusts were much higher. Additional rapid weakening is expected today into Wednesday, and Iota was forecast to dissipate over Central America by Wednesday night.

Honduras, northern Nicaragua, southeast and central Guatemala and southern Belize could see up to20 inches, with isolated maximum totals of 30 inches, the weather service said.

"This rainfall will lead to significant, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding, along with mudslides in areas of higher terrain," said Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

People hunkered down in Bilwi even before the hurricane arrived, already battered by screeching winds and torrential rains.

Business owner Adn Artola Schultz braced himself in the doorway of his house as strong gusts of wind and rain drover water in torrents down the street. He was amazed that as second storm was following so closely on Eta's destructive heels.

It is like bullets, he said of the sound of metal structures banging and buckling in the wind. This is double destruction. This is coming in with fury."

Neighbors help each other as they evacuate the area before Hurricane Iota makes landfall in San Manuel Cortes, Honduras, Monday, November 16, 2020.(Photo: Delmer Martinez, AP)

Evacuations were conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their shared border through the weekend.

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo said the government had done everything necessary to protect lives, including the evacuation of thousands. She added that Taiwan had donated 800 tons of rice to help those affected by the storms.

This hurricane is definitely worse than Eta, said Jason Bermdez, a university student from Bilwi. We will never forget this year.

Iota is the record 30th named storm of this years 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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'We will never forget this year': Hurricane Iota roars through Caribbean coast just devastated by Eta - USA TODAY