Tropical Storm Sara hits Honduras, airlines activate flexible policies

Tropical Storm Sara has drenched northeastern Honduras with rainfall and will bring threatening flash floods and mudslides this weekend, reports say.

Earlier posts from the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) told residents along the eastern Gulf of Mexico to monitor the storm for its potential to reach the United States, but the agency now believes the storm might not survive its path through Central America and Mexico’s Yucatán.

Sara, which formed Thursday as it closed in on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, is the 18th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

After pushing away from Honduras this weekend, Sara is expected to hit El Salvador, east Guatemala, west Nicaragua and the Mexican State of Quintana Roo with heavy rainfall and “life-threatened flash floods and mudslides,” the NHC said Friday.

Tropical storm conditions are expected along portions of the north coast of Honduras and the adjacent Bay Islands, the Caribbean coats of Guatemala and Belize where tropical storm warnings are in effect.

Sara will likely interact with too much land in Central America and Mexico to survive into the Gulf of Mexico next week as originally forecasted, the NHC said Thursday.

Canadian airlines have activated flexible rebooking policies for impacted areas. 

Air Canada has posted alerts for Cancun and Tulum for travel up to November 17, while WestJet has posted an advisory for Belize. Click here for details. 

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