Tropical Storm Sara makes landfall in northern Honduras

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) – Tropical Storm Sara scraped along northern Honduras’ Caribbean coast early Friday, dumping torrential rain across parts of Central America and southern Mexico after making initial landfall overnight.

Sara made landfall about 105 miles (165 kilometers) west-northwest of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. It is near Brus Laguna, a village of about 13,000 inhabitants. There are few other population centers nearby.

At dawn, the center said the storm was located about 205 miles (330 kilometers) east-southeast of Belize City and moving west at 9 mph (15 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) .

The storm was expected to stay roughly on that path before heading out to sea again and threatening the coast of Belize.

Sara was forecast to pass over or very close to the tourist destination of Roatan off the coast of Honduras on Sunday. The storm was then expected to turn northwest toward Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Mexican authorities warned it could cause “intense rain” across the resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula.

Sara was forecast to drop 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain, with up to 30 inches (75 centimeters) in isolated areas of northern Honduras. The heavy rain can lead to life-threatening floods and landslides, the center says.

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