| GEO World | | Storm Agatha downgraded to tropical depression | Updated at: 1052 PST, Sunday, May 30, 2010
MIAMI: Tropical storm Agatha has weakened after hitting dry land and has been downgraded to a tropical depression, US forecasters said early Sunday.
At 0300 GMT, the center of the weather event was located 25 miles (45 kilometers east-northeast of Tapachula, Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to 35 miles (55 kilometers) per hour, the center said, adding that all tropical storm warnings have been discontinued for the region.
"Additional weakening is anticipated as Agatha moves over the high terrain," the center noted.
In Guatemala, the storm has already dumped 36 centimeters (14 inches) of rain, triggering flash floods and landslides that killed 14 people Saturday, including four adults and four children inside homes buried by mudslides, officials said.
The National Disaster Agency did not indicate the circumstances of the remaining storm fatalities, but said 12 Austrian tourists were rescued from a resort area that was cut off by a sinkhole in its only road access.
Eleven persons were reported missing in the western part of the country, it added.
In El Salvador, also hit by Agatha's driving rains, one person was killed, authorities there reported. |  |
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