Ecobreves – HONDURAS: El Niño Predicted to Affect 10 Departments

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TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 19 2009 (IPS) - The active cycle of the climate phenomenon known as El Niño will have greatest impact next year and will affect 10 of the 18 departments of Honduras, warned authorities, who predict extreme droughts. The hardest hit are likely to be the departments of Francisco Morazán and Comayagua in central Honduras; La Paz, Valle, Choluteca and El Paraíso in the south; Olancho, in the northeast; Colón, Atlántida and Yoro in the north, Agriculture Secretary Héctor Hernández told Tierramérica.

El Niño, the warm phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, occurs when the surface water temperatures of the central and equatorial Pacific rises and flows west to east.

In El Paraíso and Choluteca, in addition to heavy losses in farm production, the waves of heat are predicted to be intense, which could cause health problems, warned Hernández.