Hurricane Iota hits Nicaragua threatening catastrophic damage

Storm hits Caribbean coast less than two weeks after Hurricane Eta carved a swathe of destruction

Hurricane Iota has made landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, threatening catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by equally strong Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago.

Iota had intensified into a dangerous Category 5 storm early on Monday, but the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it weakened slightly to Category 4, with maximum sustained winds of 155mph (250km/h). It made landfall about 30 miles (45km) south of the Nicaraguan city of Puerto Cabezas, also known as Bilwi.