22 dead as Tropical Storm Nate heads for U.S. coast

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA— Tropical Storm Nate was blamed Thursday for at least 22 deaths in Central America as it dumped rain across the region on a path that would carry it toward a potential landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane over the weekend.

Louisiana officials declared a state of emergency and ordered some people to evacuate coastal areas, and evacuations began at some offshore oil platforms in the Gulf.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm could cause dangerous flooding by dumping as much as 38 to 50 centimetres of rain as it moved over Honduras, with higher accumulations in a few places.

It had maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h by Thursday evening and was likely to strengthen over the northwestern Caribbean Sea Thursday night and Friday before a possible strike on Mexico’s Cancun re- gion at near-hurricane strength. It could hit the U.S. Gulf coast near New Orleans over the weekend at hurricane strength.

The storm was centred about 75 kilometres west of Puerto Lempira, Honduras and was moving northnorthwest near 17 km/h.

In Nicaragua, Nate’s arrival followed two weeks of near-constant rain that had left the ground saturated and rivers swollen. Authorities placed the whole country on alert and warned of flooding and landslides.

Nicaragua’s vice-president and spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo, said that at least 15 people had died due to the storm.

In Costa Rica, seven deaths were blamed on the storm and 15 people were missing. Flooding drove 5,000 residents into emergency shelters.

In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency and mobilized 1,300 National Guard troops.