"The emergency is bigger than the rescue capacity, we have floods everywhere, bridges about to collapse, landslides and dozens of roads blocked by mudslides," a spokesman for the Salvadoran Red Cross said.

Torrential rains brought by the storm since the weekend were blamed for 50 deaths in El Salvador, 50 in Guatemala, 11 in Nicaragua and eight in Mexico.

And authorities warned the danger was far from over as heavy rain continued to fall over much of the area.

Salvadoran President Antonio Saca, who toured affected areas in the small central American country, warned that heavy rainfall would continue through Thursday, and urged residents in threatened areas to evacuate.

Almost 34,000 Salvadorans have already fled their homes to protect themselves not only from the threat of mudslides and flashfloods, but also from the wrath of the Santa Ana volcano, whose eruption on Saturday killed two people.

Dozens of landslides were reported across the country, causing many of the 50 deaths blamed on Stan. The Panamerican Highway leading to the capital San Salvador was cut off by mudslides, as were several other roads.

"The situation is more than critical," said Raul Murillo, spokesman of the National Emergency Commission.

In Guatemala, authorities said 50 people were killed and another 106 were injured. Thirty-six houses were demolished and more than 3,300 were damaged, while 26,000 people fled their homes.

"We have reports that the levels of all rivers of the southern coast are growing rapidly and if the rains continue, there will be more damage," said Benedicto Giron, a spokesman for the disaster response agency.

In Nicaragua, eight of the 11 reported fatalities were reportedly illegal immigrants from Peru and Ecuador killed when the boats they were traveling in capsized.

The storm slammed ashore in Mexico's state of Veracruz on Tuesday.

Although it only gained hurricane strength for a few hours, Stan caused major flooding and landslides in southern Mexico and Central America.

More than 100,000 people were forced to flee their homes in Mexico, and state oil company Pemex had evacuated 270 workers from its offshore platforms before the storm hit land.

In the impoverished, mountainous Mexican state of Chiapas the pounding rain caused several rivers to burst their banks, smashing homes near the Guatemalan border, causing bridges to collapse and flooding roads.

Six people were reported killed in Chiapas and two in the neighboring state of Oaxaca.

Stan was downgraded to a tropical depression on Wednesday, fizzling out over the mountains of southeastern Mexico, though forecasters warned it could still produce heavy rains and flooding.

This year's Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has been one of the deadliest and most active on record.

Hurricane Katrina, which slammed ashore on the US Gulf of Mexico coast August 29, ravaged New Orleans and coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killing more than 1,200 people and becoming the deadliest storm to hit the United States since 1928.

Stan was the 10th Atlantic hurricane this year. As Stan dumped rain over Mexico and Central America, Tropical Storm Tammy formed in the Atlantic. Tammy was running parallel to Florida's east coast on Wednesday, just 32 kilometers (20 miles) offshore.

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