El Progreso, Honduras ? Tropical Storm Gamma deluged the coast of Central America on Saturday, killing at least six people – three in flooding in Honduras and three in the crash of a small plane belonging to a Belize lodge owned by the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

Forecasters said Gamma, the 24th named storm of an already record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, was likely to stay out to sea as it moved past Belize and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The storm had top sustained winds near 45 mph and was expected to stay well below hurricane strength of 74 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in Miami.

Gamma was likely to speed up and turn northeast on Sunday, sending it across the northeastern Caribbean and toward western Cuba, forecasters said. On that path, Gamma would cross Cuba but skirt the Florida Keys and the Florida mainland on Monday.