Tropical Storm Alma slams Nicaragua

[Joshua Berman]

"Tropical Storm Alma slams Nicaragua":

Have a look at this USAtoday article which goes into further detail about the stor, which was just a tropical depression, not even a full hurricane.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2008-05-29-tropical-depression-costa-rica_N.htm?csp=34

I just spoke with my friend in Esteli where they haven't seen rain like this since Mitch. It came in from the northwest, really slamming Chinandega. It's supposed to intensify overnight.

If anyone has on-the-ground reports, please post them here.

[Joshua Berman]

One friend just wrote:

I spoke with my host family in Carazo on Thursday night around 6pm Nica time--they said the rain was so thick you couldn't see across the street, and that is was very COLD.

My friend in the city of Chinandega reported having 24-hours of rain and lots of water in the streets.  There was no power or running water when I spoke with him (but he was unsure if it was due to the storm, or los apagones.)

I plan to call again tonight to see how it has gone over...

[Randall Wood]

The word from my family is that Managua made out OK, but the beach towns got hammered, including El Tránsito (León), where a number of homes were clobbered by the winds and heavy rain.

[Randall Wood]

Courtesy of Reuters and the IFRC, here's an interesting map (HTML and PDF versions available) that show which areas of Nicaragua were most affected - in general it was the Pacific Coast with a bit of damage along the Río San Juan, presumably from flooding.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/satelliteimages/121257574384.htm

[karina]

Hello all,

I actually was between Leon and Managua (returning from a small community in Chinandega) when the storm was at its highest. It was positively insane. First, in Chinandega, the rivers were rising very fast and everyone thought of Mitch and starting preparing. On the way back, the wind was extremely strong and trees were falling... We saw fallen roofs, trees and bus stops that had collapsed. Electricity posts were almost all down. And all the electoral campain signs (so people around were joking about that too). Anyways it was really strange to have a storm that strong in May in the Pacific. Maybe it is a professional bias (I am a geographer working on climate change issues in Nicaragua) but I thought of climate change right away.
Cheers
Karina