Hurricane Iota caused significant damage this week in Honduras, including to the country’s largest airport.
Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport near San Pedro Sula was submerged by water, and local media reports that it may not reopen for passengers until mid-December at the earliest.
Leo Castellón, the superintendent of the company that operates the airport, said the facilities were under more than two meters of water and largely inaccessible due to flooding across the Sula Valley.
Authorities were prioritizing cleaning the runway in order to allow for the arrival of humanitarian flights, Castellón told El Heraldo. Evaluation and repairs to the passenger terminal will come later.
Watch a short video of the submerged airport below:
Iota made landfall in Nicaragua late Monday night. It caused at least 44 deaths across the region and significant infrastructure damage in Honduras, Nicaragua and on Colombian islands.
Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport was also damaged by Hurricane Eta, which impacted Central America earlier in November. Until the airport can be repaired, travelers should instead fly via Toncontín International Airport near Tegucigalpa, about four hours away by road.
