Tropical Storm Sara dumps nearly 22 inches of rain in 24 hours on Honduras

Mary Gilbert
CNN
Fri, 15 Nov 2024 18:37 UTC

© CIRA/RAMMB

Tropical Storm Sara tracks very close to northern Honduras Friday morning.

Tropical Storm Sara is unleashing heavy rainfall in northeastern Honduras, with life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides anticipated through the weekend.

Nearly 20 inches of rain had already fallen in parts of Honduras as of Friday morning with more to come.

Earlier forecasts from the National Hurricane Center told residents along the eastern Gulf of Mexico to monitor the storm for its potential to reach the US, but the center now believes the storm might not survive its trek through Central America and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

Sara, which formed Thursday afternoon as it closed in on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, is the 18th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. It's a season that's lived up to initial hyperactive forecasts and hasn't played by the rules.

Tropical activity should be winding down in November, but Sara is now the third named storm this month thanks to exceptionally warm water wrought by climate change.

The storm, which briefly made landfall Thursday night in northeastern Honduras, may make another brief landfall as it skirts the coast.

Sara's ongoing heavy rainfall could trigger "life-threatening" flooding in parts of Honduras, the NHC warned. A few places in Honduras could measure around 30 inches of rain while double-digit rainfall totals may impact other parts of Central America. That could mean "widespread areas of life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides."

After pushing away from Honduras later this weekend, Sara will threaten Belize with storm surge and gusty winds.

Tropical storm alerts were in effect from Honduras to Guatemala and Belize Thursday. Additional alerts for more of Belize and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula are possible in the coming days.

Multiple scenarios for what could happen to Sara after its interaction with Honduras and the Yucatán Peninsula were possible earlier this week, but one appears to be winning out and it's good news for a storm-weary US Gulf Coast that's been hit by five hurricanes this year.

Sara will likely undergo too much interaction with land in Central America and Mexico to survive into the Gulf of Mexico early next week as originally forecast, the NHC said Thursday afternoon.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam contributed to this report.

Comment: The Weather Network reports:

Extreme floods and mudslides continued Friday as Tropical Storm Sara wrung out a tremendous amount of moisture over northern Honduras.

The storm's very slow track through the western Caribbean will make flash flooding and mudslides a persistent and life-threatening hazard into the weekend.

Looking ahead, it remains uncertain what—if any—impacts the system or its remnants may have on Florida next week.

The overall pattern over the Caribbean has forced Sara to stall-out near the northern coast of Honduras. It's expected to move very little over the next couple of days. While land interaction will keep the storm from taking advantage of warm waters to strengthen, heavy rain is far and away the greatest threat from this system.

Repeated rounds of torrential downpours have washed over the country's mountainous terrain.

The city of La Ceiba, which is home to a quarter of a million people, measured 556.0 mm of rain in 24 hours as of noon local time on Friday.

Extensive flash floods and mudslides have been reported throughout the region.