Hurricane Menaces Costa Rica

Hurricane Joan resumed its deadly trek toward Central America with 110-m.p.h. winds today after heavy rains pounded Venezuela and pushed the storm’s death toll to at least 26.

Costa Rica joined Nicaragua in declaring a national emergency. The storm threatens “devastation and death,” said Manuel Obando, president of Costa Rica’s National Emergency Committee. Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., said the storm is moving west at about 5 m.p.h. and “there is going to be considerable loss of life . . . assuming it moves that way, and assuming those heavy rains will hit there with mudslides.”