Tropical Storm Nate blamed for 17 deaths; threatens US coast

Newly formed Tropical Storm Nate was blamed today for at least 17 deaths across Central America as it dumped rain across the region on a path that would carry it toward a potential landfall on the US Gulf Coast as a hurricane over the weekend. Louisiana officials ordered some people there to evacuate.
The US National Hurricane Centre 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 kph at midday today and was likely to strengthen over the northwestern Caribbean Sea tonight and tomorrow before a possible strike on the Cancun region at the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

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 in that country due to the storm. She didn't give details on all the deaths, but said two women and a man who worked for the Health Ministry were swept away by a flooded canal in the central municipality of Juigalpa.
The government closed schools nationwide.

Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solis blamed two deaths in that country on the storm. Flooding drove 5,000 residents into emergency shelters.

In Louisiana, officials ordered the evacuation of part of coastal St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans ahead of the storm. Earlier in the day, a voluntary evacuation was called in the barrier island town of Grand Isle south of New Orleans.
New Orleans officials outlined steps to bolster the city's pump and drainage system. Weaknesses in that system were revealed during summer flash floods.
The storm was centred about 80 kilometres northwest of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and was moving northwest near 15 kph.
The forecast track showed the storm could brush across the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula late tomorrow night and then hit the US Gulf Coast as a hurricane by Sunday morning.

Forecasters said hurricane conditions were possible in Mexico tomorrow night.
In the Pacific, former Tropical Storm Ramon dissipated off the southwestern coast of Mexico.