GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) — The remnants of a tropical storm dumped more rain across Central America on Sunday after killing at least 96 people and raising fears of further mudslides in three countries.

Agatha, the first named storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, slammed into the Guatemalan coast near the border with Mexico on Saturday. The Guatemalan president reported 83 people dead and at least 24 people missing. More than 74,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

A dozen of more people were believed to be dead in the town of San Antonio Palopó, 90 miles southeast of the capital, after a huge mudslide engulfed an entire neighborhood.

“There was a mudslide that wiped out homes, trees and everything in its path,” said a man who gave his name on local radio as Luis. “We have found 14 bodies, and we think there are another 8 to 10 beneath the mud.”

Nine people were killed in neighboring El Salvador and more than 8,000 were in shelters, President Mauricio Funes said.

One man in northern Honduras was killed when his home collapsed, and emergency officials warned of possible mudslides from saturated hills.

Rescue workers scrambled to restore communications to towns and villages cut off by landslides, and other people were feared dead in those places. The storm lost strength overnight as it crossed Guatemala’s western mountains, but emergency workers warned residents to expect heavy rain for several more days.

Swollen rivers burst their banks and a highway bridge near Guatemala City was swept away by the floodwaters. Sinkholes opened up in the capital, where many neighborhoods remained without electricity.

More than three feet of rain fell in parts of Guatemala, President Álvaro Colom said.

“Many places are cut off, but it appears the weather will improve a bit today and we will be able to airlift supplies to those places,” Mr. Colom said at a news conference. “The road network is badly damaged.”

The intense rainfall is causing concern over the condition of the coffee crop in Guatemala, the region’s biggest producer, as well as in El Salvador, where the rains fell heaviest in the main coffee-growing region. Meanwhile, a volcano that began a major eruption on Thursday about 25 miles south of Guatemala City is close to some of the country’s most prized coffee plantations.

National coffee associations in Guatemala and El Salvador said that poor communications had so far left them unable to determine the extent of any damage to their crops.

Central America’s mountainous terrain and poor communications in rural areas make it especially vulnerable to heavy rains. Hurricane Ida caused flooding and mudslides in November that killed at least 150 people.

Guatemalan officials warned that the flooding from the storm could be worsened by ash spewing out of the volcano, which has blocked drainage systems.

The volcano’s eruption has closed the country’s main international airport, and aviation officials do not expect to finish cleaning ash and debris off the tarmac until at least Tuesday.

The volcano remained active on Sunday, but the intensity of the eruption appeared to be diminishing, civil defense officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/americas/31guatemala.html?pagewanted=print