Tropical Depression Sara finally moves out of Central America after causing widespread damage and airport closures throughout the region.
Tropical Storm Sara weakened to a depression yesterday after making landfall in Belize, moving northwest into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as Central America begins assessing widespread damage. The Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport in Belize reopened this morning as Prime Minister John Briceno issued an “all clear” for the country.
Belize faced unprecedented November weather as Sara made landfall Sunday morning near Dangriga, about 55 miles southeast of Belmopan. The storm triggered widespread flooding, with some areas recording between 6 to 18 inches of rainfall. Emergency services implemented flood warnings across multiple regions, particularly affecting the Cayo and Belize Districts.
The government suspended classes nationwide for today, with tomorrow’s public holiday (Garifuna Settlement Day) providing additional time to assess post-storm conditions. Despite extensive flooding, no casualties were reported in Belize.
Regional Impact
In Honduras, one death was reported and over 70,000 people were affected, with 251 communities cut off from communications and around 4,000 people evacuated to shelters. The international airports in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula were both forced to close during the storm.
Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province saw severe flooding that also forced the closure of its international airport, affecting over 6,000 passengers before reopening yesterday. The region’s agricultural sector reported extensive damage to rice, coffee, and sugarcane plantations, while Honduras’ coffee farms in coastal areas also suffered significant impacts.
The weather system’s broader impact has been severe across the region. Before Sara’s formation, two weeks of heavy rainfall had already claimed eleven lives in Panama, four in Costa Rica, and left one person missing in Nicaragua. Sara marked the 18th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, occurring unusually late in November.
