DISASTROUS HURRICANE IDAH

Hurricane Idah - The three-day successive torrential rains caused by Hurricane Ida killed 42 people in El Salvador.

Humberto Centeno, the country's interior minister said on Sunday, "the toll was expected to rise as rescue teams moved into areas that have been cut off by mudslides."

A separate low pressure system may have also contributed to the rain, forecasters said.

News of the deaths came as the storm gathered strength off the coast of the Mexican resort city of Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula on Sunday.

Weather forecasters in the US have predicted the storm would head towards the US later this week, where the authorities have issued a hurricane watch for the US Gulf Coast.

US National Hurricane Center said, "A hurricane watch is in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana to the Mississippi/Alabama border. This watch does not include the City of New Orleans (Louisiana)."

Hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area generally within 36 hours. It has been declared by Forecasters that Hurricane Ida on Thursday would passed off the Carribbean Coast of Nicaragua carrying heavy rains that would possibly destroyed several homes.

The storm path carrying heavy rains would cause thousands of people to seek refuge and shelter which storm would weakened into a tropical storm before reaching hurricane status again late on Saturday with sustained winds of near 145kph.