Otto moves into eastern Pacific after landfall in Nicaragua, Costa Rica

MIAMI, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Otto has moved into the eastern Pacific Ocean after making landfall in Nicaragua and Costa Rica from the Atlantic Ocean.

Otto made landfall as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph on Thursday afternoon close to San Juan de Nicaragua in southern Nicaragua, near Costa Rica's border.

In Costa Rica, President Luis Guillermo Solis in a news conference that at least 3 people had died and dozens were missing. The towns of Upala, in Alajuela, and Bagaces, in Guanacaste, were in the eye of the storm.

It was the latest hurricane to reach landfall in any calendar year on record in the Atlantic Basin, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist, Dr. Phil Klotzbach. Only nine tropical cyclones became hurricanes in the Atlantic after Nov. 21 from 1950 through 2015, and the last was Epsilon in December 2005.

Otto is 100 miles west of the coast as of Friday morning and was moving westward at 16 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds were 65 mph and significant change in strength is anticipated during the 48 hours.

No coastal watches or warnings are in effect.

An additional inch of rain was forecast in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Soon after the storm had landed on Thursday, a 7.0-magnitude quake struck 93 miles southwest of Puerto Triunfo, El Salvador, at a depth of 6.4 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.