Sara was forecast to drop 10 to 20 inches of rain, with up to 30 inches in isolated areas in northern Honduras. In a 7 a.m. Eastern update, the hurricane center said "heavy rain, life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides" were possible through the weekend in Central America.

Sara has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph as of early Friday morning, and further strengthening is possible in the coming days if the storm center largely stays offshore from Hon

A tropical storm is expected to form over the central Caribbean Sea within the next day or so, bringing life-threating flooding to portions of Central America this week, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Wednesday.