Tropical Storm Nate formed off the coast of Nicaragua on Thursday and was being blamed for five deaths in that country as it spun north toward a potential landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane over the weekend.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm could cause dangerous flooding by dumping as much as 38 to 50 centimetres of rain on Nicaragua, with higher accumulations in a few places.
It had maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h Thursday morning and was likely to strengthen over the northwestern Caribbean Sea Thursday night and Friday.
Tropical Storm #Nate has formed with a notable westward forecast shift since yesterday. Check the latest forecast: https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/D4vkL3S1Ye
The coast of Louisiana, a state that felt some of the tremendous impact of Hurricane Harvey, could face heavy rains and winds based on the current path, with Alabama potentially affected as well.
The storm was centred Thursday morning about 45 kilometres northwest of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and was moving northwest near nine km/h.
In Nicaragua, its 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 Rosario Murillo said that two women and a man who worked for the Health Ministry were swept away by a flooded canal in the central municipality of Juigalpa while working to aid the community.
Two other men drowned — one in the Carazo area south of Managua and the other in the Coco river near the border with Honduras. The government closed schools along the Caribbean coast.
The forecast track showed the storm could brush across the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula late Friday night and then hit the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane by Sunday morning. Forecasters said hurricane conditions were possible in Mexico Friday night.
In the Pacific, former Tropical Storm Ramon dissipated off the southwestern coast of Mexico.
