Hurricane Beta Hits Central America
Tropical storm Beta Saturday became the 13th hurricane of the current season, after pounding Providencia Island, a Colombian jurisdiction, located off Honduran coasts.

The deputy director of Colombia’s Meteorological and Environment Studies State Institute, Max Henriquez, said Saturday that the situation on the Colombian Island of Providencia is critical after the path of Beta few hours ago. Some people are wounded and many houses were destroyed, he added.

Telephone communications were broken off Saturday morning with the island, where strong winds of over 80 miles per hours and heavy rains continue.

The center of hurricane Beta was located at 08:00 local time about 35 miles northwest of Providencia Island. This is also about 130 miles southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios and about 120 miles east of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

Beta is moving toward the northwest near 3 mph and will continue its slow motion to the northwest.

However, since steering currents are expected to remain weak, some erratic motion will be possible. Beta could even become stationary at times.

Maximum sustained winds are near 80 mph with higher gusts. Beta is a category one hurricane on the saffir-simpson scale. Strengthening is forecasted during the next 24 hours and Beta could become a strong category two hurricane before it makes landfall along the east coast of Nicaragua.

Hurricane Beta is expected to produce torrential rainfall with totals of 10 to 15 inches across north-eastern Honduras. Rainfall totals may exceed 25 inches on Providencia Island.