Panama landslide
© YouTube/CNN (screen capture)
Torrential rainfall is hitting Panama so hard as a result of Hurricane Otto's movement toward Central America that landslides and life-threatening flash floods are wreaking serious havoc.

Video obtained by Critica shows several houses sitting on a cliff disappearing as the ground beneath it collapses.

As the houses slowly sink down the cliff, those filming can be heard yelling and screaming.

Miraculously, houses on each side - which appear to be newer than those which sunk - remain intact.

The houses are in San Miguelito, a city which lies in the Panama Province - roughly 25km from the nation's capital.

Three deaths have already been linked to Otto in Panama.

Hurricane Otto is expected to intensify as it approaches Costa Rica and Nicaragua.