Hurricane Iota powers up in new threat to Central America

A pregnant woman is carried out of an area flooded by water brought by Hurricane Eta. Hurricane Iota is set to hit the same area just a week later (Delmer Martinez/AP)

A fast-strengthening Hurricane Iota is sweeping over the western Caribbean and predicted to become a very dangerous Category 4 storm as it heads for the same part of Central America that was battered by a similarly powerful Hurricane Eta just over a week ago.

Evacuations were being conducted from low-lying areas in Nicaragua and Honduras near their shared border, which appeared to be Iota’s likely landfall.