Tropical Storm Matthew

Tropical Storm Matthew reaches Central America

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Tropical Storm Matthew has made landfall in Central America, threatening to bring new destruction to a region already suffering the consequences of an abnormally fierce rainy season.

At 9:00pm GMT, Matthew's centre was located inland over north-eastern Nicaragua, heading west over Honduras, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) reported.

The storm struck further south than expected, Nicaragua Meteorology Institute spokeswoman Rosalba Silva said.

There have been no reports of victims or serious damage, though some 10,000 Miskito Indians living on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast were evacuated ahead of the storm, civil defence chief Mario Perezcassar said.

The storm was moving at nearly 24 kilometres per hour, packing winds of 75 kilometres per hour.

Matthew is "expected to produce torrential rains over Central America during the next few days," the NHC said.

On its projected path Matthew will dump rain over much of Nicaragua and Honduras as it heads towards Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

Matthew is a large storm, with tropical force storm winds extending outward up to 280 kilometres to the north of the centre, the NHC said.

The storm is expected to lose strength and its tropical storm status by Sunday.

However, even a weakened Matthew could be dangerous, the experts warned.

The storm is expected to dump between 15 and 25 centimetres of rain over parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, with up to 38 centimetres possible in isolated areas.

"These rainfall totals may produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," the NHC said.

Central America is in the midst of one of the most intense rainy seasons in the last 60 years, with flooding and landslides that have killed more than 300 people and caused serious damage in recent months.

- AFP  (ABC news)

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