Five hours after making landfall Thursday morning in Nicaragua's South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), Hurricane “Ida” was downgraded from a Category 1 tempest to a tropical storm Thursday early afternoon.

The storm, which only reached hurricane-force winds for about six hours in the morning, still managed to cause considerable material damage in the remote Caribbean communities of Laguna de Perlas and Sandy Bay Sirpe, 100 kilometers north of Bluefields, the regional capital of the RAAS.

Preliminary reports from Civil Defense suggested many ramshackle homes had their roofs torn off by the winds, which also snapped trees and downed power lines. There was also reported flooding in the river communities of Prinzapolka and Río Grande, as some 3,500 people were evacuated, including many island residents from Corn Island.

At press time Thursday afternoon, there were no reported deaths or serious injuries, and Nicaraguan authorities said the worst of the storm appeared to be over.

However, some of the more rural communities were still incommunicado, after the winds knocked out several radio antennae used to communicate with the rural population.

Though Ida never made it past a category 1 storm, with winds touching 120 kilometers per hour, it was a very slow moving storm, giving it time to do inflict considerable damage where it made landfall, and to some of the offshore cays.

Civil Defense says it has some 850 troops in the region and will helicopter more support and food aid into Bluefields by Friday morning, once the winds calm enough to allow air travel.

In Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Red Cross and the National Emergency Commission (CNE) maintained yellow alert levels for several regions on Thursday afternoon, just hours after the category 1 hurricane swept ashore in Nicaragua.

The alert is in effect for the entire Pacific coast, the Central Valley and several counties in the northern zone at least through Friday morning.

The storm did not touch Costa Rica and only sustained hurricane force winds for six hours before being downgraded to a tropical depression. But the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reports that the system has had indirect effects on Costa Rica and has caused strong rainfall.

Meteorologists said the excessive water has caused some rivers to rise in the northern Pacific region of the country, but that no serious flooding has been reported.

According to the CNE, the extra rain provoked the collapse of a sewer in Cartago, east of San José, which led to leaks in some homes. The rain also induced small landslides in Guararí de Heredia, north of San José. Three homes were affected and five families evacuated.

No mandatory evacuations have been issued and IMN meteorologists say the worst of the side effects have past.