TELA, Honduras (Reuters) - Wading through waist-deep water, residents along the northern coast of Honduras trudged through the streets on Friday carrying their belongings and pets, as heavy rains from Tropical Storm Sara caused widespread flooding across the area.

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.

A deep plume of tropical moisture streaming ahead of Hurricane Helene ran into a boundary parked over the interior southeastern United States. This boundary squeezed the tropical moisture out of the air like a sponge, leading to days of heavy rain across the mountainous terrain of North Carolina and Tennessee.