What's left of the Pacific Ocean tropical storm that killed at least 179 people in Central America is working its way into the Caribbean Sea, but forecasters give it little chance of reforming into another tropical cyclone.

Winds above the storm should inhibit development, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters give the mass of rain and thunderstorms a 10 per cent chance of becoming a tropical storm by Thursday.

The remains of Tropical Storm Agatha are expected to remain fairly stationary near the Yucatan Peninsula.

Agatha, the first storm of the Pacific basin, hit land Saturday and fell apart Sunday over the mountains of Guatemala. Though the winds were only 45 mph at landfall, the main damage from the storm was torrential rain that caused flooding and landslides.

Guatemala was the hardest hit, with officials reporting 152people dead and 100 still missing.

One of the most dramatic illustrations of the storm's impact was in the capital city where a 30m-wide sinkhole formed that swallowed an entire intersection, gulping down a 3-story clothing factory.

In neighbouring Honduras, the death toll rose to 17 while meteorologists predicted three more days of rain.

Two dams near the capital of Tegucigalpa overflowed into a nearby river, and officials warned people to stay away from swollen waterways.

In El Salvador, 11,000 people were evacuated. The death toll rose to 10 and two others were missing, President Mauricio Funes said.