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Tropical Storm Alma weakens to depression after hitting Central America with rain, winds

Other News Materials 31 May 2008 09:49 (UTC +04:00)

The remnants of Tropical Storm Alma dumped rain on Honduras on Friday and led to the death of a child who was swept away by a swollen stream.

The 7-year-old girl drowned in the southern province of Choluteca, Honduras' national Emergency Commission said in a news release.

The storm also blew down trees, knocking out some electricity lines in the southern region, Honduran national energy company spokeswoman Karla Matute said.

In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, officials cleared trees from roads and repaired roofless homes on Friday.

Alma reached land Thursday near the Nicaraguan colonial city of Leon, the first such storm for the eastern Pacific season.

The storm blew roofs off homes, knocked out power and telephone service and brought down a light pole at the city's baseball stadium.

A 30-year-old man was electrocuted by a power line that snapped under high winds, said Nicaraguan emergency official Flor de Maria Escobar.

"The wind whipped up the sand, and it lashed your face like sandpaper," said Erasmo Lopez, a fisherman in the coastal hamlet of Poneloya, near where Alma made landfall. "The trees were shaking like crazy, cars were shuddering and you couldn't even see in front of you."

In Costa Rica, authorities rescued three children and their mother after an embankment collapsed on their house outside the capital, San Jose. A 7-year-old girl was still in critical condition Friday.

Along the coast, 200 families were evacuated to storm shelters after Alma dumped rain over the country for 24 hours. Landslides blocked a few highways.

The eastern Pacific hurricane season began May 15, AP reported.

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