Storm Celia expected to dump heavy rain on El Salvador, Guatemala, southern Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Celia is expected to drop heavy rain on El Salvador, Guatemala and southern Mexico through Sunday, and could spark flash floods and mudslides, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday.

Celia, which formed on Friday, is a small storm and will likely move westward away from the coast into the Pacific, the NHC predicted. Still, movement farther north or an increase in size could lead to a tropical storm warning in the region.

The storm is slowly drifting north-northeast, and was blowing maximum sustained wind speeds of 40 mph (65 kph) on Friday morning, the NHC said.

Authorities in El Salvador have issued a “red alert” warning along the country’s coast.

Mexico’s National Water Commission said the storm would likely dump rain on the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Veracruz and Yucatan.

Celia’s emergence comes as Blas, a Category 1 hurricane off the coast moving deeper into the Pacific, threatens to douse the western states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Guerrero, Michoacan and Baja California with rain, the water commission said.

Swells generated by Blas are likely to cause dangerous surf and rip currents in parts of the Baja California peninsula, the NHC said.

Hurricane Agatha hit Mexico in late May, causing floods that killed at least nine people. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will travel to Oaxaca on Friday to give an update on progress made in recovery efforts following a visit last week.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City; additional reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Editing by Alistair Bell)