Rafael strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds shortly before striking the southern coast of western Cuba at 4:15 PM ET Wednesday near Playa Majana in Artemisa Province.

ISLA DE LA PROVIDENCIA, Colombia – Thousands of homeless Colombians are trying to find their way out of a remote hurricane-ravaged island off the coast of Nicaragua. Eight days ago, Category 5 Hurricane Iota destroyed Providencia, a mountainous Colombian island in the Caribbean. Colombian authorities set up a temporary hospital with limited resources on the island of some 5,000 residents. The Colombian government released this picture of Providencia, Colombia after Hurricane Iota on Nov. 17, 2020. Colombian President Ivan Duque promised humanitarian aid and tasked a Colombian Navy team to assist with the Herculean task of rebuilding the island.

The rain in Central America is not going to let up quickly because the cold front that came through Florida will be in the vicinity as well. In addition, a Tropical Disturbance in the extreme southern Caribbean Sea will pull additional moisture over Central America and northern Colombia. It’s a broad low-pressure area at this point, and it has a very slight chance of developing into a tropical depression. Since all of the systems involved are moving slowly, the strong winds off the ocean will continue through the week. It’s unlikely to amount to much, though it has a slight chance of padding the 2020 stats.

The center of what’s left of Hurricane Iota is dying out over El Salvador, but moisture continues to be pulled into the mountainous areas in Central America, especially in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. But the flash flooding at high elevations continues, and that water cascades down the mountains in the gullies, valleys, and rivers. Conditions will slowly ease as what’s left of Iota drifts toward the Pacific Ocean and dies out tomorrow. It would have very little time to organize before it moved across Central America late this week or over the weekend. An upper-level disturbance that is helping to drive the cool air south might kick off a non-tropical system east of the Bahamas.

Men wade through a street flooded after the passing of Hurricane Iota in La Lima, Honduras, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020. Rescuers searched at the site of a landslide in northern Nicaragua, where the local government confirmed four deaths and neighbors spoke of at least 16. Iota arrived Monday evening with winds of 155 mph (250 kph), hitting nearly the same location as Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier. The hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30. ___Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

A woman standing near a fallen house, brought down by the winds of Hurricane Iota in Siuna, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. That was just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall on Nov. 3, also as a Category 4 storm. Fallen tree branches cover a house after the passage of Hurricane Iota in Siuna, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Hurricane Iota tore across Nicaragua, hours after roaring ashore as a Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of the Caribbean coast that was recently devastated by an equally powerful hurricane. SOUTH FLORIDAHow to help as need for emergency relief grows in Nicaragua, HondurasThere is a need for non-perishable food, over-the-counter medications, first-aid kits, sleeping bags.

Vicious Category 4 Hurricane Iota — just one notch below Category 5 strength — made landfall almost exactly where Category 4 Hurricane Eta hit just 13 days before. It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like in those coastal towns in eastern Nicaragua after dark yesterday and last night. The stunning thing is, of course, that this same thing just happened a week before last from Hurricane Eta. Iota should die out completely in a couple of days as the circulation gets mangled by the tall mountains of Central America. Hurricane Iota, of course, reached Category 5 strength just offshore of the Nicaraguan coastline, before weakening slightly to a top-end Category 4 at landfall.

A fallen tree lies on the road after the passage of Hurricane Iota in Siuna, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Hurricane Iota tore across Nicaragua on Tuesday, hours after roaring ashore as a Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of the Caribbean coast that was recently devastated by an equally powerful hurricane. By Tuesday night, Iota had diminished to a tropical storm and was moving inland over northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. Even before Iota hit Nicaragua, it scraped over the tiny Colombian island of Providencia, more than 155 miles (250 kilometers) off Nicaragua's coast. Iota developed later in the season than any other Category 5 storm on record, beating a Nov. 8, 1932, Cuba hurricane, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

MIAMI, Fla. – Hurricane Iota is forecast to hit Honduras as a Category 5 storm and is expected to be devastating. Throughout Florida, necessary items are being gathered to help those who will be affected after the storm. At the Global Empowerment Mission in Miami, they are working around the clock to fill trailers, then send them out. Martha Hernandez, who is spearheading donation drive Amor Y Fuerza Honduras in Doral, has family in Honduras. Where to DonateGEM warehouse, 1148 Northwest 72nd St., Miami, (800) 995-7604.

Hurricane Iota is on the cusp Category 5 strength as it is on final approach to landfall on the coast of Nicaragua near the Honduras border this evening. That was November 6, 1932, as the storm was heading for the Cayman Islands and the southern coast of Cuba. Eta was a Category 4 at landfall, and Iota is forecast to come in near or at Category 5 strength. Imagine reeling from a Category 4 hurricane to get the news that another stronger storm was coming 2 weeks later. In the National Hurricane Center graphic, you can see the yellow area just below the hurricane symbol representing Iota.

A pregnant woman is carried out of an area flooded by water brought by Hurricane Eta in Planeta, Honduras, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned it would probably reach Category 4 strength as it approached the Central America mainland late Monday. It was already a record-breaking system, being the 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season. Eta was the 28th named storm of this year’s hurricane season, tying the 2005 record for named storms. The official end of hurricane season is Nov. 30.

Hurricane Iota is continuing to strengthen in the central Caribbean, well on its way to likely Category 3 or 4 strength. Unbelievably, Iota is heading for the same coastline that Hurricane Eta decimated just 2 weeks ago. Hurricane Iota’s development also cements 2020 as the second most active hurricane season on record behind 2005. Iota is forecast to make landfall late tomorrow or early Tuesday on the Nicaraguan coast and then quickly die over the Central American mountains. Though even after the circulation loses definition, the rainfall threat will migrate north through Central America.

The remnants are moving toward the west near 12 mph (19 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue today. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches). Portions of Nicaragua and El Salvador: 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm), with isolated maximum totals of 6 inches (150 mm). SURF: Swells generated by Iota will affect much of the coast of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula during the next day or so.