The death toll from Tropical Storm Julia rose to at least 16 on Monday, officials said, with most victims coming from El Salvador and Honduras, as the weakening storm dumped heavy rainfall on a swath of Central America and southern Mexico.
Salvadoran authorities reported the deaths of nine people, including five soldiers, and at least 830 people evacuated.
Authorities in both El Salvador and Guatemala canceled classes on Monday.
In Honduras, five victims have been confirmed, including a woman who died Sunday after she had been swept away by floodwaters, and a 4-year-old boy in a boat that capsized near the Nicaraguan border Saturday night, officials said.
Panama's emergency services confirmed later Monday that two people died as a result of heavy rains, and that around 300 people evacuated from communities near the country's border with Costa Rica.
Julia made landfall Sunday on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast before crossing into the Pacific Ocean.
On Monday, the storm was moving northwest at 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph) along the coast of El Salvador toward Guatemala, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The Miami-based NHC estimated Julia's maximum sustained winds at about 56 kph (35 mph), with its center located some 56 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Puerto San Jose, Guatemala, on the Pacific coast.
It is expected to weaken on Monday evening.
But heavy rains could still cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides as it dissipates, the NHC said, with 127-254 millimeters (5-10 inches) of rainfall expected in El Salvador and southern Guatemala.
Mexico's isthmus of Tehuantepec and western Honduras could receive 76-152 millimeters (3-6 inches) of rain, with less rainfall seen in Nicaragua, Honduras and northern Guatemala, according to NHC estimates.
Honduran authorities added that 9,200 people sought refuge in shelters.
In Nicaragua, Julia left 1 million people without power, and heavy rains and floods forced the evacuations of more than 13,000 families.
