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At least 20 people have been killed as Tropical Storm Nate made landfall - more warnings are in place as it moves now towards Mexico and the U.S.
RELATED:
Tropical Storm Nate Hits Central America, Heads for Mexico
In Nicaragua there were 11 deaths, seven in Costa Rica and two in Honduras.
The Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis told a news conference that 5,000 people have been moved to shelters and he expects even more to be displaced.
The government has declared a state of emergency, closing schools and all other non-essential services.
The storm is expected to intensify to a hurricane-level 1 on Friday, according to the latest update from the U.S. based National Hurricane Center, NHC.
Up to 51 centimeters of rain is forecast to fall in some isolated areas.
The NHC warned Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Panama and Costa Rica could experience life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
The agency says the storm is moving towards Mexico "is expected to approach the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula this Friday afternoon."
Nate is then forecast to head toward the U.S. Gulf Coast over the weekend, causing extensive storm surge and heavy flooding in parts of Florida and Louisiana including St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans.
Louisiana's Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency.
Nearly 1,300 National Guard troops are being mobilized ahead of the hurricane, AP reported.
"Nate will pass well to the west of South Florida, so that means a continued deep flow of moisture from the south and a good chance of showers and thunderstorms during the weekend," Dennis Feltgen, spokesperson for the NHC said in a statement.
The center of the storm continues to move through northeastern Nicaragua with the maximum sustained winds of about 65 kilometers per hour, while higher speed bursts can occur.
Nate is the fourteenth storm to be named this year, following just a month after the powerful and destructive Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria which tore through the Caribbean and parts of the U.S.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the series of storms would convince climate change skeptics like U.S. President Donald Trump that global warming is a “major threat.”
Guterres urged the global community to follow the Paris Climate Agreement "with greater ambition."
The secretary-general said, "scientists are learning more and more about the links between climate change and extreme weather."
"We know that the world has the tools, the technologies and the wealth to address climate change, but we must show more determination in moving towards a green, clean, sustainable energy future," Guterres told a news conference.
The U.N chief has appealed for donations of over US$113.9 million for relief for the countries in the Caribbean affected by the hurricanes.
"I regret to report, the response has been poor," he said.
Guterres will travel to the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda as well as Dominica later this week, "to survey the damage and to assess what more the United Nations can do to help people recover, visiting of course also the operations that are taking place there."
The Paris agreement is aimed at limiting warming temperatures to 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels, and to shift nations towards sustainable growth practices.
The Trump administration came under fire for pulling out of the climate deal in June.
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