The tropical storm Julia It continues to move towards the west of the Caribbean and could become a hurricane on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Meanwhile, the authorities in Colombia remain on alert.
The director of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies IDEAM, Yolanda González, said on Saturday that “at dawn, tropical storm Julia continues to strengthen, has reached maximum winds of over 95 km/h, continues to move west just as it was predicted towards the San Andrés Archipelago, Providencia and Santa Catalina, at a speed of 30 km/h It is likely that Julia will reach the category of category 1 hurricane in the next few hours, even towards noon or in the afternoon hours ”.
According to the NHC, the center of Julia is expected to pass near or over the Colombian islands tonight, reached the coast of Nicaragua on Sunday morning and that the natural phenomenon or its remnants turn to the west-northwest near the Central American coast on Monday, with less force.
The tropical storm formed in the extreme south of the Caribbean, on Friday, near the department of La Guajira, in Colombia, where it left havoc, strong winds, floods, isolated roads and affected more than 500 families, including indigenous communities, according to authorities. local. The Colombian Caribbean Coast has also been affected by heavy and constant rains.
For its part, the inhabitants of the archipelago prepare to face the possible arrival of the hurricane, while maintaining the curfew from early Saturday morning.
In Nicaragua, an update was issued that upgraded a hurricane watch to a hurricane warning from Bluefields to Puerto Cabezas. There are also alerts, but lighter, for other areas of the country and Honduras, where the population is encouraged to monitor and monitor the hurricane, according to the NHC.
Venezuela also suffered havoc due to the passage of the tropical depression, where the rains caused floods, landslides, the collapse of dozens of houses and failures in the electrical service in at least eight states of the country, in recent days.
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