By Sofia Menchu
ZACAPA, Guatemala (Reuters) – Nana weakened to a tropical storm from a hurricane as it moved into Guatemala and southeastern Mexico, bringing heavy rains that have caused only minimal damage, the U.S. National Hurricane Center and local authorities said on Thursday.
By 8 a.m. ET (1200 GMT), Nana was about 150 miles (241 km) north-northeast of Guatemala City, and packing sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km/h), the Miami-based NHC said.
The government of Belize discontinued all coastal watches and warnings and Mexico discontinued a tropical storm warning for its coast, the center said.
Nana is forecast to continue moving inland over Guatemala and extreme southeastern Mexico throughout Thursday and “rapid weakening is forecast today and tonight, and Nana will likely become a remnant low on Friday,” said the NHC.
Guatemalan disaster agency Conred said Nana damaged a home and blew tree branches onto a highway. Authorities in neighboring Honduras did not report damages.
The NHC warned that rainfall from Nana could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
The eastern edges of the Mexican states of Veracruz and Oaxaca are forecast to see rain of 6 to 8 inches, with isolated downpours of up to 12 inches.
The northwest coast of Honduras could receive 2 to 4 inches of rain, Belize 4 to 8 inches, with bursts of 10 inches, and Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco 3 to 6 inches, with isolated totals of 8 inches, the NHC said.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Zacapa, Guatemala, Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Anthony Esposito in Mexico City; Editing by Dan Grebler)
