Rescue workers today searched for victims of a mudslide near a volcano-ringed lake popular with tourists in Guatemala, as the death toll from flooding sparked by heavy rains climbed to 79 across the country and 65 in neighbouring El Salvador.

Hurricane Stan knocked down trees, ripped roofs off homes and washed out bridges in south-eastern Mexico – but the storms it helped spawn proved far more destructive, killing more than 65 people in Central America.