Story highlights Otto is the latest-in-season Atlantic hurricane since 2005Storm is expected to make landfall Thursday near the Nicaragua/Costa Rica borderAtlanta (CNN) At least three people in Panama have died and four are missing as Hurricane Otto churns toward eastern Central America, Panamanian President Juan Carlos said. By early Wednesday, the center of the Category 1 storm was 140 miles north of Panama City. Otto could become a Category 2 storm before making landfall near the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border around noon ET Thursday. Peak of hurricane season in the AtlanticWhile the Caribbean is one of the few areas with warm enough water to support a hurricane this late in the season, a storm making landfall this far south is extremely rareThis portion of Central America is unaccustomed to hurricane landfalls. It also has steep terrain, which makes the area prone to flooding and landslides from a slow-moving storm like Otto.

Source: CNN November 23, 2016 11:06 UTC