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As of November 17, 2020, Hurricane Iota is considered the strongest storm to hit Nicaragua in the country’s history and has so far killed six people, according to the Nicaraguan government. More than 400,000 people in Nicaragua have been affected by the storm as it made landfall near Haulover as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 155 mph according to the National Hurricane Center. Over 62,000 people in the Central American nation have been moved into government shelters following the storm. Communications is almost non-existent due to blackouts and fallen electrical cables. Hurricane Eta also has devastated Central America, leaving residents to wade through the wreckage of two storms in a matter of weeks. Eta’s landfall was approximately 15 miles away from Iota in the Haulover area and was also a Category 4.

When crises like this occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfilling our purpose, For a Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support response efforts as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for non-commercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other nonprofits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on additional post-event data.