MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Tropical Storm Alma slammed into Nicaragua's northwest corner Thursday, near the city of Leon, becoming the first such storm of the eastern Pacific season. Heavy wind and rains knocked out power, forced evacuations, and flooded low-lying areas all along Central America's Pacific coastline.
Alma's maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph but the storm was expected to weaken as it heads inland over Honduras. Thursday afternoon, it was moving at 9 mph.Nicaragua's Radio Ya reported that a 30-year-old man was electrocuted in Trasbayo, 40 miles southeast of Managua, after a power line snapped under high winds.
"It's raining like I've never seen," teacher Socorro Alvarez said in Leon. "We hope God has mercy on us."
The fast-growing storm took forecasters and many in Central America by surprise. Residents scrambled to prepare for the storm before it hit.
Flooding caused by Tropical Storm Alma on Thursday
undermined this bridge south of Managua, Nicaragua.
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Tropical Storm pounds Central America coast 
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