Tropical Storm Eta Makes Landfall in Florida

Eta made landfall at 4 a.m. EST Thursday near Cedar Key, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Bands of rain and gusty winds from Eta are spreading across the Florida Peninsula this morning.

Tropical moisture associated with Eta is also streaming northward ahead of a cold front in the East. That is resulting in locally heavy rainfall from parts of Virginia into the Carolinas.

A tropical storm warning remains in effect from parts of west-central Florida to northeast Florida and extreme southeast Georgia. This includes Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida.

Eta is expected to track through northern Florida as it continues to weaken. It should emerge off the Southeast coast by Thursday afternoon and then transition into a non-tropical low-pressure system as it moves farther out to sea through Friday.

Eta could produce localized rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches in the Florida Peninsula today.

The heaviest rainfall will be where Eta's moisture is colliding with a cold front from southern Virginia into parts of the central and eastern Carolinas. This area could pick 3 or more inches of additional rainfall on Thursday.

There could flash flooding in all of the areas mentioned above from this rainfall.

Flood watches have been issued by the National Weather Service from parts of Florida to Virginia.

Tropical storm conditions remain possible on Thursday in the tropical storm warning area from west-central Florida to parts of north and northeast Florida.

Power outages are possible in areas where stronger wind gusts occur and ground saturated from heavy rain may make it easier for trees to be downed, even with lower wind gusts.

Lingering storm surge flooding remains possible on Florida's western Gulf Coast.

Water could reach 2 to 4 feet above normal tide level if the peak surge occurs at high tide from Suwannee River to Middle of Longboat Key, including Tampa Bay.

The last high tide of concern along the western Florida Gulf Coast will be mid-morning Thursday.

U.S. Recap

On Wednesday, heavy rain and strong winds battered parts of western, central and South Florida, particularly from Sarasota to parts of the Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area.

Sarasota, Florida, picked up 6.41 inches of rain on Wednesday, easily their wettest November day on record.

Wind gusts to 60 mph or higher have been clocked near Port Charlotte (69 mph), near Dundee (67 mph), Clearwater Beach (60 mph) and in Punta Gorda (60 mph) Wednesday in Eta's rainbands.

Venice (58 mph), St. Petersburg (55 mph), Naples (55 mph) and Sarasota-Bradenton (52 mph) have recorded gusts over 50 mph.

So far, peak storm surge inundation of 2.5 to 3 feet above normally dry ground has been measured by gauges in Tampa Bay, just under 2 feet in Cedar Key, and between 2.3 and 2.75 feet in southwest Florida from Naples to Fort Myers.

In Pinellas County, water was reportedly knee high near the casino in Gulfport and halfway up outdoor restaurant tables in Madeira Beach. Water was also flooding flood-prone Bayshore Boulevard late Wednesday night.

Eta made is first U.S. landfall in the Florida Keys at Lower Matecumbe Key on Sunday night at 11 p.m. EST. Eta was the 12th named storm to make landfall in the U.S. this hurricane season, and the first official landfall for the state of Florida.

Parts of Broward County in South Florida picked up 15 to 20 inches of rainfall from Eta, according to the National Weather Service. The heavy rainfall caused road flooding in parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Nov. 8 and then again the following morning.

Streets and neighborhoods were flooded from Miami to Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach.

At its peak, 57,000 customers were without power in South Florida, according to poweroutage.us.

Central America Rainfall Flood Catastrophe

Nicaragua and Honduras have seen roofs ripped off of homes, trees uprooted, bridges washed out, landslides and flooded roads.

As feared, torrential rain from Eta triggered massive flooding in parts of Central America as far west as Guatemala and as far south as Costa Rica.

One of the hardest-hit areas was western Honduras.

Flooding inundated Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport near San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Water was up to the rooftops in parts of San Pedro Sula, Thursday. Video showed hundreds of people on rooftops and the second story of buildings waiting for rescue. Some had been trapped for 48 hours.

As of November 10, 68 communities in Honduras remained isolated by flooding or landslides.

Water levels along the Ulúa River in western Honduras were said to have been 13 feet higher than the peak during Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Catastrophic flooding was also expected along the Choluteca River in the town of Marcovia, in southern Honduras, south of the capital Tegucigalpa.

(MORE: Eta Triggers Memories of Mitch 22 Years Ago)

One landslide in Guatemala reportedly claimed at least 100 lives. According to Oxfam, at least 12 communities remained cut off flooding in Guatemala as of November 11.

Over 22 inches of rain was recorded in Tela, Honduras, on the Caribbean coast since Monday.

Some locations picked up over 10 inches of rain in one day, including Puerto Barrios, Guatemala (13.98 inches).

The NHC was forecasting storm totals could reach 40 inches in parts of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Eta's Storm History

Eta is the 28th storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which ties the 2005 season for the most storms on record. It's also the 12th hurricane of the season, which ties for the second-most on record for a year in the Atlantic.

Maximum sustained winds in Eta increased from 70 mph to 150 mph in just 18 hours ending 7 p.m. EST Monday. That's more than double the criteria for the rapid intensification of a tropical cyclone, which is a wind speed increase of 35 mph or more in 24 hours or less.

At its peak late Monday and early Tuesday, Eta was the third-strongest November hurricane on record in the Atlantic by wind speed and just the fifth Atlantic Category 4 or higher hurricane to occur in the month. Paloma in 2008 was the last November Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic.

Eta was the ninth storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season to undergo rapid intensification.

Eta's central pressure plunged 82 millibars in 48 hours ending 1 a.m. ET Nov. 3, one of the largest 48-hour pressure drops on record in the Atlantic Basin, according to Sam Lillo, a NOAA researcher based in Boulder. Only hurricanes Andrew, Rita and Wilma had as large or larger pressure drops in a 48-hour period than Eta, Lillo found.

The small hurricane produced prolific lightning flashes in its eyewall Monday afternoon, one sign of its intensity.

Eta's eye arrived along the coast of Nicaragua about 15 miles south-southwest of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua around 4 p.m. EST Tuesday. At that time, maximum sustained winds were estimated at 140 mph, a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, according to the NHC.

Eta was only the fifth Category 4 or stronger hurricane on record to landfall in Nicaragua, the first since Category 5 Hurricane Felix in 2007.

Winds had gusted up to 136 mph near Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, Tuesday afternoon.

The NHC forecasted a destructive storm surge inundation of 14 to 21 feet above normal tide levels near where Eta made landfall. This is roughly the magnitude of storm surge experienced during Category 5 Hurricane Felix in 2007.

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