Tropical Storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast

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Tropical Storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast

2024-11-17 00:44 Last Updated At：00:50

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — Tropical Storm Sara stalled over Honduras on Saturday, drenching the northern coast of the Central American nation, swelling rivers and trapping some people at home.

Sustained rain fell overnight and continued into the morning in the city of San Pedro Sula, where the storm cut off access to an entire community when a river crossing washed away. And through the weekend, the region could see life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The weather system made landfall late Thursday about 105 miles (165 kilometers) west-northwest of Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the Honduras-Nicaragua border. The Hurricane Center expects the storm will move near the Bay Islands of Honduras on Saturday before approaching Belize.

Sara is then expected to turn northwesterly toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, though forecasters said it probably will not reemerge into the Gulf after crossing the Yucatan.

Rain-soaked residents were on edge Saturday as the conditions brought back memories of the disastrous November 2020 hurricane season, when two powerful storms passed through the region, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and causing widespread damage.

Standing on a riverbank, Carlos Canelas, 48, acknowledged many residents like his mother had ignored official warnings to evacuate the Flor de Cuba neighborhood of San Pedro Sula. By Saturday morning, the 77-year-old woman was cut off from the rest of the city because the river crossing collapsed and remained home with her 35-year-old special-needs son.

“That is why I did not go to work, but there is little or nothing I can do,” he said. "I can cross the river swimming, but how do I get my mother out?

The storm, however, did not stop a CONCACAF Nations League soccer match Friday in San Pedro Sula. Under heavy rain, Mexico lost 2-0 to Honduras.

In November 2020, Eta and Iota passed through Honduras after initially making landfall in Nicaragua as powerful Category 4 hurricanes. Northern Honduras caught the worst of the storms with torrential rains that set off flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands. Eta alone was responsible for as much as 30 inches (76 cm) of rain along the northern coast.

Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano contributed to this report from Mexico City.

Protesters gather at UN climate talks in global day of action as progress on a deal slows

2024-11-17 00:41 Last Updated At：00:50

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.

The demonstration in Baku, Azerbaijan was echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that's become an annual event.

Activists waved flags, snapped their fingers, and hummed and mumbled chants in a silent protest, with many covering their mouths with the word “Silenced.”

Demonstrators held up signs calling for more money to be pledged for climate finance, which involves cash for transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change. It comes as negotiators at the venue try to hammer out a deal for exactly that — but progress has been slow and observers say the direction of any agreement is still unclear.

Lidy Nacpil said protestors like her are “not surprised” about how negotiations are going. But past wins — like a loss and damage fund that gives developing nations cash after extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change — keep organizers going, said Nacpil, a coordinator with the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.

“The role we play is to increase the pressure,” she said of the action. “We know we’re not going to get the results that the world needs in this round of negotiations, but at least to bring us many steps closer is our hope, is our aim.”

She added: “I think we have no option but to keep fighting ... It’s the instinctive response that anyone, any living being, living creatures will have, which is to fight for life and fight for survival.”

Tasneem Essop said she was inspired by the action, which was challenging to organize. “To be able to pull off something where people feel their own power, exercise their own power and get inspired in this creative way, I’m super excited about this,” she said.

Essop says she’s “not very” optimistic about an outcome on finance, but knows next week will be pivotal. “We can’t end up with a bad deal for the peoples of the world, those who are already suffering the impacts of climate change, those who need to adapt to an increasing and escalating crisis,” she said. “We fight until the end.”

Activists in Baku were joined by protests big and small around the world.

In London, hundreds of protesters marched from the British Museum to the offices of Socar, the Azerbaijan-owned oil company, before heading to the residence and office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Demonstrators with hands painted red chanted, “Cop29 stop the lies, greenwashing genocide” and “keep it in the ground.”

Negotiators at COP29, as the talks are known, are working on a deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations. Many are in the Global South and already suffering the costly impacts of weather disasters fueled by climate change. Several experts have said $1 trillion a year or more is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can't afford on their own.

Samir Bejanov, deputy lead negotiator of this year's climate talks said in a press conference that the climate finance talks were moving too slowly.

“I want to repeat our strong encouragement to all parties to make as much progress as possible,” he said. “We need everyone to approach the task with urgency and determination.”

Diego Pacheco, a negotiator from Bolivia, said that the amount of money on the table for developing countries needs to be “loud and clear.”

“No more speeches but real money,” he said.

Observers were also disappointed at the pace of progress.

“This has been the worst first week of a COP in my 15 years of attending this summit,” said Mohamed Adow, of climate think tank Power Shift Africa. "There’s no clarity on the climate finance goal, the quality of the finance or how it’s going to be made accessible to vulnerable countries.”

“I sense a lot of frustration, especially among the developing country blocks here,” he said.

Panama environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro agreed, telling The Associated Press he is “not encouraged” by what he’s seeing at COP29 so far.

“What I see is a lot of talk and very little action,” he said, noting that Panama is among the group of countries least responsible for warming emissions but most vulnerable to the damage caused by climate change-fueled disasters.

“We must face these challenges with a true sense of urgency and sincerity,” he said. “We are dragging our feet as a planet.”

Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles and Brian Melley in London contributed.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Tropical Storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast

News

Tropical Storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast

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