SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras – Tens of thousands of Hondurans are cramming into overcrowded storm shelters, aid workers and officials say, raising concerns that the chaotic set-up will trigger a new spike in coronavirus infections. Workers at four international aid organizations and two local church leaders told Reuters that inadequate sanitary conditions at shelters in the northern city of San Pedro Sula were a serious concern. Honduran Deputy Health Minister Roberto Cosenza said more than a quarter of 3,500 rapid tests by local authorities in shelters in San Pedro Sula had come back positive. As of Monday, there were 55,435 people in 535 shelters across Honduras, government data showed, with the majority in the Valle de Sula where San Pedro de Sula is located. Cortes, the region where most shelters are located, is Honduras’ hardest-hit by the coronavirus.

Men wade through a street flooded after the passing of Hurricane Iota in La Lima, Honduras, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020. Rescuers searched at the site of a landslide in northern Nicaragua, where the local government confirmed four deaths and neighbors spoke of at least 16. Iota arrived Monday evening with winds of 155 mph (250 kph), hitting nearly the same location as Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier. The hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30. ___Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

A fallen tree lies on the road after the passage of Hurricane Iota in Siuna, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Hurricane Iota tore across Nicaragua on Tuesday, hours after roaring ashore as a Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of the Caribbean coast that was recently devastated by an equally powerful hurricane. By Tuesday night, Iota had diminished to a tropical storm and was moving inland over northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. Even before Iota hit Nicaragua, it scraped over the tiny Colombian island of Providencia, more than 155 miles (250 kilometers) off Nicaragua's coast. Iota developed later in the season than any other Category 5 storm on record, beating a Nov. 8, 1932, Cuba hurricane, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Locals move on street barely cleared from the debris of the last storm, before Hurricane Iota makes landfall in La Lima, Honduras, Monday, November 16, 2020. Hurricane Iota rapidly strengthened Monday into a Category 5 storm that is likely to bring catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by a powerful Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)MANAGUA – Powerful Hurricane Iota made landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast late Monday, threatening catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by equally strong Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago. Iota already had been hitting the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras with torrential rains and strong winds. Iota came ashore just 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall Nov. 3, also as a Category 4 storm.

The remnants are moving toward the west near 12 mph (19 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue today. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches). Portions of Nicaragua and El Salvador: 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm), with isolated maximum totals of 6 inches (150 mm). SURF: Swells generated by Iota will affect much of the coast of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula during the next day or so.