GUATEMALA CITY — Tropical Storm Agatha, the first named storm of the season, slammed into Guatemala’s Pacific Coast on Saturday, its torrential rains triggering landslides and floods that left at least 12 people dead and 11 missing.
The impoverished Central American nation was already contending with heavy eruptions from its Pacaya volcano that have blanketed the capital in ash and destroyed 800 homes.
Officials worried that heavy rains from Agatha, which formed in the east Pacific early Saturday, could exacerbate the damage by turning black volcanic ash into cement-like mud.
The storm was expected to dump 10 to 20 inches of rain and as much as 30 inches in isolated areas of Guatemala. Agatha was expected to lose force as it came ashore overnight.
