Powerful Hurricane Eta threatens flooding in Central America

Dangerously powerful Hurricane Eta churned toward Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast with potentially devastating winds, while heavy rains thrown off by its storm bands already were causing rivers to overflow across Central America. The Category 4 hurricane had sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph), and the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that Eta could strengthen further, perhaps reaching Category 5, before making landfall early Tuesday. It was centered about 45 miles (75 kilometers) east of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, late Monday and moving west-southwest at 7 mph (11 kph).