Tropical Storm Sara pounds Central America and leaves 1 dead after torrential rain

Tropical Storm Sara stalled over Honduras Saturday, leaving at least one dead in its wake after drenching the northern coast of the Central American nation and swelling rivers.

The death was reported on Saturday by Honduras Emergency Management, who also said that there have been 90 rescues and over 47,000 people affected by the storm.

The area could see life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides through the weekend, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Sustained rain fell overnight and continued into the morning in the city of San Pedro Sula, where there were no immediate signs of serious flooding.

Sara was forecast to drop 10 to 20 inches of rain, with up to 30 inches in isolated areas of northern Honduras. The heavy rain could lead to life-threatening flooding and landslides, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The weather system made landfall late Thursday about 105 miles west-northwest of Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, the center reported. That is near Brus Laguna, a village of about 13,000 inhabitants. There are few other areas of population nearby.

The Hurricane Center expects the storm will move near the Bay Islands of Honduras on Saturday before approaching Belize.

Sara is then expected to turn northwesterly towards Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, though forecasters said it probably will not reemerge into the Gulf after crossing the Yucatan.

Mexican authorities warned that it could cause “intense rains” over the resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula.

Tropical storm warnings were in place for Honduras’ northern coast and its Bay Islands, the Belize coast, the Caribbean Sea coast of Guatemala and the Mexican coast from Puerto Costa Maya southward to Chetumal. 

In November 2020, Eta and Iota passed through Honduras after initially making landfall in Nicaragua as powerful Category 4 hurricanes. Northern Honduras caught the worst of the storms with torrential rains that set off flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands. Eta alone was responsible for as much as 30 inches of rain along the northern coast.

Sara, the 18th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, is expected to linger in the Caribbean through the weekend and slowly move into the Gulf of Mexico early next week. After that, its path is less clear. CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said a lot of the models are now trending towards it dissipating either after it enters the Gulf of Mexico or over Mexico, but several still have it aiming towards Florida. 

“Florida residents should closely monitor the forecast updates as they come in,” Nolan advised.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially runs from June 1 until Nov. 30, with activity typically peaking between mid-August and mid-October. An average season brings 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which did predict the 2024 season would produce “above average” numbers.