October 9, 2022 Hurricane Julia passes over Nicaragua:
Today, Hurricane Julia created flooding in many areas of Nicaragua. Overflowing rivers, flooded homes or homes with roofs blowing off, and damage to infrastructure throughout the country
The category one hurricane touched the Caribbean coast near Bluefields at dawn with winds of 140 km/h, impacting between Orinoco and Laguna de Perlas; and was downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through the rest of the country. Some municipalities lost telephone communication and electricity as a result of falling trees, as was the case of Bluefields, Corn Island, Laguna de Perla, and other areas of the South Caribbean Coast. Some bridges collapsed, and the streets of different municipalities in the country suffered serious flooding, according to citizen reports from the residents on social networks, in the departments of Chontales, Granada, Matagalpa, Managua, Carazo, Boaco and Nueva Segovia.
In León:
From our office in Leon we communicated by telephone with Keyling Medrano in Troilo, who told us what happened during the passage of Hurricane Julia:
” For me it was quite unpleasant and sad. On Sunday the wind moved the trees with force, the tomato plants that were already in the flowering stage were damaged when they were knocked down by the strong gale, my cucumber bed was also damaged. I lost 100 percent of my crops, my house was full of water. The corn and wheat crops of the neighbors were thrown on the ground. And here in Troilo houses collapsed, others the wind blew away part of the roof and there is damage to the access roads to the community.”
The damages reported by the communities of the rural areas of Goyena and Troilo were numerous, from partial damage to total loss of crops, as well as the partial damage to houses. The communities of Goyena and Troilo up to now do not have the electricity service, due to damage to the electrical transmission lines. At four in the afternoon this Sunday, the Government declared a Red Alert in the face of the damage caused by the hurricane, and the Ministry of Education canceled school classes for this Monday, October 10.
November 1, 2022:
On Monday October 10, our farmers returned immediately to their fields to recover or replant crops that the storm had damaged. Some tied up their plants or created mounds to anchor their roots. A week after the storm, some crops were recovering day by day with field work, by putting stakes on each plant to straighten them, applying organic products such as bicarbonate to remove the yellowing of plants caused by lack of nitrogen due to excess rain, and pests were controlled.
Not all plants would recover: those who lost their corn due to high winds would not be able to harvest the current crop, and had to remove plants and reseed, waiting 4 months for the next harvest. Other crops like chiltoma, tomato, cucumber and papaya have been replanted and are continuing to grow and produce fruit for this harvest season. Some of these have also failed since then due to the flooding and resulting lack of Nitrogen in the soil. Now, just a month later, the farms have mostly recovered to their maximum expression, and are producing.