MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Tropical Storm Eta drenched northern Nicaragua and Honduras on Wednesday after devastating communities along the countries' Caribbean coast and setting off deadly landslides that killed at least three people in Central America.
The storm had weakened from the Category 4 hurricane that battered the coast Tuesday, but it was moving so slowly and dumping so much rain that much of Central America was on high alert. Eta had sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving westward at 7 mph.
The long-term forecast shows Eta weakening to a tropical depression Wednesday, taking a turn over Central America and then forming up again in the Caribbean -- possibly reaching Cuba on Sunday and southern Florida on Monday.
In Bilwi, the main coastal city in Nicaragua's northeast, civil defense brigades worked to clear streets of downed trees, power lines and sheets of metal roofing. Some neighborhoods were completely flooded. Rosario Murillo, the vice president and first lady, said that more than 51,000 families remained without power in the affected areas.
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"The debris teams are starting to work and we still can't give a sense of what happened," said Ivania Diaz, a government official in Bilwi. "We have seen very humble homes completely destroyed."
South of Bilwi, closer to where Eta roared ashore Tuesday, the seaside Miskito community of Wawa Bar was devastated. The military had evacuated the community before Eta hit, but what residents found Wednesday were wind-twisted trees, shredded roofs and some structures damaged beyond recognition.
"There's nothing standing here," an unidentified resident told a television station. "Wawa Bar is now a Miskito community where destruction reigns."
Inland there was flooding in Sarawas and the Prinzapolka river had risen more than 10 feet and threatened communities along its banks. "We are watching the Prinzapolka because there could be risk of an overflow," Murillo said in a news conference Wednesday.
Murillo said the government was preparing a damage report that would be used to request international assistance. In what she called "good news," Murillo said that among 10 babies born in the Bilwi area during the storm, one was given the name Eta Wilson.
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Nicaragua's meteorology director Marcio Baca said the storm was saturating the north and Pacific coast of the country with heavy rain. He compared it to Hurricane Joan in 1988.
Eta was about 100 miles east of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Wednesday afternoon.
Two gold miners were killed in a landslide Tuesday in Bonanza, about 100 miles west of where Eta made landfall, said Lt. Cesar Malespin of the Bonanza Fire Department.
In the northern province of Jinotega, communities were already flooded. Floodwaters took down a suspension bridge over the Wamblan River and some 30 people were evacuated early Wednesday from Wiwili, according to local radio.
Northern Nicaragua is home to most of the country's production of coffee, a critical export. Lila Sevilla, president of the National Alliance of Nicaraguan Coffee Producers, said growers were concerned about landslides that could affect coffee plants and block roads needed to take the harvest to market.
"It's still early to evaluate the impact of the rain, but we can expect damage to the road network in the northern towns," Sevilla said. The harvest hadn't started yet, but extended rain could cause the coffee to mature too quickly and affect its quality, she said.
By Wednesday afternoon, Eta was skirting the Nicaragua-Honduras border. Honduras has already been feeling the effects of the storm since at least Sunday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami forecast that parts of Nicaragua and Honduras could receive 15 to 25 inches of rain, with 40 inches possible in some isolated parts.
Information for this article was contributed by Marlon Gonzalez and Christopher Sherman of The Associated Press.
