Tropical storm pummels Nicaragua

High winds and heavy rain buffeted the colonial city of Leon

Tropical Storm Alma has buffeted Nicaragua's Pacific coast, where some 25,000 people were ordered to evacuate low-lying areas amid fears of flooding.

The storm - the first of the eastern Pacific hurricane season - reached land near the city of Leon on Thursday.

Officials said it had knocked out power and telephone lines, with heavy rain and high winds also damaging homes.

Thousands of people were also ordered from their homes in coastal areas of neighbouring Honduras.

Advertisement

Officials said the storm had knocked out power lines, and heavy rain and wind had damaged homes.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Alma was losing force as it headed inland over southern Honduras early on Friday.

It is expected to weaken to a tropical depression before reaching Guatemala or Belize late on Friday or early Saturday.

'Shaking like crazy'

The storm brought torrential rain when it landed near the colonial city of Leon, the former Nicaraguan capital and home to some 150,000 people.

Parts of Costa Rica suffered flooding after a drenching from Alma

Rescue workers described seeing homes with their roofs blown off or crushed by fallen trees.

Reports suggested one man had been killed by a downed power line.

Erasmo Lopez, a fisherman from a coastal hamlet near where the storm made landfall, told the Associated Press: "The wind whipped up the sand, and it lashed your face like sandpaper.

"The trees were shaking like crazy, cars were shuddering, and you couldn't even see in front of you."

In Honduras, some 4,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying coastal areas at risk from sea surges and flooding, the government told Reuters news agency.

Up to 55,000 others have been told to leave their homes if rivers break their banks or heavy rains cause mudslides, emergency commissioner Francisco Moncado said.

In Costa Rica, rain dumped by the storm left the town of Parrita flooded and shrouded the capital, San Jose, in a thick fog.