Hurricane Iota is forecast to strengthen to an "extremely dangerous" Category Four by the time it makes landfall in Central America on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center warned, two weeks after powerful storm Eta devastated much of the region and left more than 200 people dead or missing.

Iota strengthened to hurricane force early Sunday as it tracked westward over the Caribbean towards the Nicaragua-Honduras border.

Maximum sustained are near 90 mph (150 km/h) with higher gusts.

"Rapid strengthening is expected during the next 36 hours, and Iota is forecast to be an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane when it approaches Central America," the Miami-based NHC said.

Moving slowly over the southwestern Caribbean Sea, the hurricane was forecast to pass near or over the tiny Colombian island of Providencia late Sunday and hit northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras late Monday.

The NHC forecast "potentially catastrophic winds, a life-threatening storm surge and extreme rainfall" for Central America as Iota became the year's 13th hurricane.

- Evacuations under way -

Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua announced evacuations Friday, even as the region was still reeling from the devastation inflicted by Eta.

In the Nicaraguan coastal city of Bilwi, residents were desperately trying to secure the roofs of flimsy wooded homes with the same zinc sheets ripped off by Eta.

Many people were wrapping their belongings in plastic bags to protect them from the coming rains.

"We are worried, nervous. Psychologically we are not doing well, because losing our things and starting over is not easy. Some of us have old little houses and we risk losing everything," Silvania Zamora told AFP.

Authorities have ordered people to leave the area but many are refusing to leave out of fears of catching Covid-19.

"Some of us prefer to stay and die in our homes. There has never been a repeat hurricane in such a short time, but what can we do against the force of God and nature," Zamora said.

Eta's heavy rains burst river banks and triggered landslides as far north as Chiapas, Mexico.

Initial estimates show "some 80,000 families are going to be at risk," said Guillermo Gonzalez, head of Nicaragua's country's disaster response agency Sinapred.

Evacuations were underway in communities along the border with Honduras, he said.

Authorities on Friday sent boats to evacuate the community in Cabo Gracias a Dios, where the Coco River flows into the Caribbean along the "Mosquito Coast."

- 'Life-threatening' -

The NHC warned that Iota would deposit as much as 16 inches (40 centimeters) of rain on Honduras, northern Nicaragua, eastern Guatemala and southern Belize, with isolated totals of up to 30 inches.

Iota is packing "potentially catastrophic winds, a life threatening storm surge and extreme rainfall," the NHC said.

Authorities in Honduras on Friday ordered police and the army to evacuate the area of San Pedro Sula -- the country's second city and industrial capital, located 110 miles north of Tegucigalpa.

Eta hit that area hard: About 40,000 people are still in shelters across the country.

The government also ordered water released from Honduras's main hydroelectric dam, due to danger of it overflowing from Iota's rains.

Guatemala's disaster management agency CONRED meanwhile called on residents in the north and northeast to voluntarily evacuate.

Eta hit the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category Four storm, one of the strongest November storms ever recorded.

Warmer seas caused by climate change are making hurricanes stronger for longer after landfall, scientists say.

This year's hurricane season has seen a record 30 named tropical storms across the Caribbean, Central America and the southeastern US.

Vamco hits Vietnam as Philippines death toll rises to 67
Hanoi (AFP) Nov 15, 2020 - Storm Vamco barrelled into Vietnam on Sunday, damaging buildings and injuring at least five people, as the death toll in the Philippines climbed to 67.

The storm made landfall on Sunday morning with reported winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph), uprooting trees and blowing the roofs off houses and schools.

Vamco is the latest in a series of storms that have pummelled Vietnam over the past six weeks, causing flooding and landslides that have killed at least 159 people and left 70 others missing.

Initial reports from the Disaster Management Authority on Sunday said that five people were injured while they were trying to secure their houses.

Vamco has weakened since hitting the Philippines as a typhoon with winds of up to 155 kph, but state media said it had still caused significant damage.

Pictures showed seafront restaurants in the tourist hotspot of Hoi An -- a UNESCO world heritage site -- ripped apart by the storm, and huge trees uprooted in the old imperial city of Hue.

Authorities evacuated nearly 650,000 people from seven coastal provinces to higher and safer ground before the storm hit, but on Sunday warned of the danger of landslides triggered by the heavy rains.

Vamco was the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines this year, killing at least 67 people across the main island of Luzon in recent days and affecting some 1.7 million around the country.

The storm triggered some of the worst flooding in years, swamping villages, destroying crops and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Rescue teams and emergency supplies including food were dispatched to the northeast Philippines on Saturday where swathes of the region were inundated. The situation was made worse by the release of water from a dam.

Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday that the waters were now receding after visiting Cagayan province, giving hope that the worst may be over for the storm-battered country.

"Situation is so much better. Many areas still flooded but water receded already," Robredo tweeted.

In Vietnam, weeks of severe weather have damaged or destroyed more than 400,000 homes, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Roads and bridges have been washed away, power supplies disrupted, and crucial food crops destroyed, leaving at least 150,000 people at immediate risk of food shortages.

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Death toll in typhoon-hit Philippines rises to 14
Manila (AFP) Nov 13, 2020
The death toll in the typhoon-battered Philippines has risen to 14, an official said Friday, after some of the worst flooding in years swamped villages and forced thousands to flee their homes. Torrential rain dumped by Typhoon Vamco - the third powerful storm to hit the country in as many weeks - inundated low-lying areas of Manila and surrounding provinces, trapping people on rooftops and balconies. As floodwaters receded and residents began to return home, the scale of the destruction left ... read more