MANAGUA, May 30 (Reuters) - Alma, the first tropical storm of the hurricane season, lost its strength on Friday over Central America, sparing oil platforms in southern Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm slammed into Nicaragua's Pacific coast on Thursday with winds near 65 mph (100 kph), killing one person as strong gusts toppled trees and powerlines and ripped roofs off flimsy homes. One man was killed in the coastal fishing village of Masachapa when he was electrocuted by downed power lines, the head of the national defense forces said. But the storm was breaking up over the mountains of Central America and was unlikely to keep moving north toward major oil wells and installations in Mexico's Gulf of Mexico, said Lixion Avila, a senior forecaster at Miami's National Hurricane Center. People who were evacuated before the storm made landfall along Nicaragua's coast began to return to their homes and Water levels in flooded neighborhoods receded as the rains subsided, Nicaraguan authorities said. Heavy rains fell in various parts of Central America, raising the risk of landslides or more floods, said the hurricane center. Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America in 1998, killing 10,000 people and last year Hurricane Dean ripped up through southern Mexico closing down platforms that export crude to the United States. (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in Mexico and Ivan Castro in Nicaragua)
Members of a family make their way around an uprooted tree, toppled by Tropical Storm Alma, in Leon city, some 57 miles (90 km) west of Managua, May 29, 2008. Alma, ...
