Tropical storm wreaks havoc in Americas

EL PROGRESO - Tropical Storm Gamma lashed Central America with heavy rain yesterday, killing at least nine people and cutting off part of the Honduran coast as the 24th major storm in a record Atlantic hurricane season steered an erratic course toward Cuba.

Slow-moving Gamma was expected to bypass Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, still recovering from a battering by Hurricane Wilma three weeks ago, and forecasters revised an earlier prediction to say that it probably would not directly hit southern Florida, where Wilma also wreaked havoc.

The storm was expected to reach Cuba today but forecasters said it probably would not gain strength.

"We expect it to move over central Cuba and then out toward the Bahamas," said Jennifer Pralgo, a meteorologist with the US National Hurricane Centre.

The storm was expected to dump up to 38cm of rain in Cuba and lesser amounts in Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize and parts of Mexico.

Gamma's heavy rains were linked to the deaths of at least nine people in Honduras and 14 were missing, officials said. Several people disappeared when a rescue boat overturned in raging river waters.

Honduran officials said more than 5000 people were evacuated along the Caribbean coast and more than 50,000 were cut off as bridges were damaged, leaving several cities and towns isolated. Engineers were working to erect temporary bridges in heavy rainfall.

- REUTERS