About Tropical Storm Agatha

Tropical Storm Agatha was a weak, but catastrophic tropical cyclone that brought widespread floods to much of Central America and was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the eastern Pacific since Hurricane Pauline in 1997. The first storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, Agatha originated from the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which is a region of thunderstorms across the tropics. It developed into a tropical depression on May 29, and dissipated on May 30, reaching top winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and a lowest pressure of 1000 mbar (hPa; 29.53 inHg). It made landfall near the Guatemala-Mexico border on the evening of May 29. Agatha produced torrential rain all across Central America, which resulted in the death of one person in Nicaragua. In Guatemala, 118 people were killed and 53 left missing by landslides. 13 deaths also occurred in El Salvador. It soon dissipated over Guatemala.
Meteorological history
The origins of Agatha were from an area of convection, or thunderstorms, that developed on May 24 off the west coast of Costa Rica. At the time, there was a trough in the region that extended into the southwestern Caribbean Sea, associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The system drifted northwestward, and conditions favored further development. On May 25, the convection became more concentrated, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted the potential for a tropical depression to develop. The next day, it briefly became disorganized, as its circulation was broad and elongated; however, the disturbance was in a very moist environment, and multiple low level centers gradually organized into one.[7] The low continued to get better organized; however, there was a lack of a well-defined circulation.[9] On May 29, after further organization of the circulation and convection, the NHC initiated advisories on Tropical Depression One-E while the system was located about 295 miles (475 km) west of San Salvador, El Salvador.
Upon becoming a tropical cyclone, the system was located in an environment with little wind shear and waters of 30 °C (86 °F). As such, it was expected to strengthen, although the mountainous terrain of the Central American coastline limited significant intensification. The depression moved slowly northeastward around the western periphery of a ridge located over northern South America. Several hours later, satellites monitoring the system discovered tropical storm-force winds, prompting the NHC to upgrade the depression to Tropical Storm Agatha. Around this time, it was noted that there was a 40% chance of the system undergoing rapid intensification within the following 24 hours as the only limiting factor was its proximity to land. However, the storm failed to intensify much, peaking in intensity with winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 1000 mbar (hPa; 29.53 inHg). Within two hours of reaching this strength, Agatha abruptly relocated northward and made landfall near the Guatemala-Mexico border. After landfall, Agatha continued to cause floods and landslides, however it did not bring a lot of tropical storm force winds on shore. The system weakened quickly after coming on shore, dropping its winds to 25 mph (20 knots, 40 km/h) and its pressure to 1007 mbar (hPa; 29.74 inHg) before dissipating. A burst of convection re-emerged east of Belize, in the Atlantic basin, on May 31.
Preparations
As a developing tropical disturbance, the system produced heavy rainfall for several days along the Pacific coastline from Nicaragua to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, with the possibility of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides. Upon becoming a tropical cyclone, a tropical storm warning was issued for the coast of El Salvador and Guatemala. In addition, Agatha was noted to have the potential for 250 to 500 mm (9.8 to 20 in) of rain in. Officials in Guatemala expected flooding from the storm to be more severe than the flooding that killed nine people a week before Agatha. Further north in Mexico, meteorologists predicted that Agatha would produce up to 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain in the southern states. Throughout El Salvador and Nicaragua, emergency officials evacuated about 2,000 residents due to the threat of flash flooding. In response to the approaching storm, a yellow alert was declared for all of El Salvador and it was estimated that roughly 89% of the country was at risk from flooding. Roughly 52,000 police, emergency rescue personnel and soldiers were placed on standby by the Dirección General de Protección Civil.(Wikipedia)