Significant damage has been caused to crops in storms that have killed at least 24 people in the Central American state of Honduras.

Days of torrential rain brought landslides and flooding to production areas, and left 25,000 people homeless andcontinue to pound low-lying northern Honduras and swell rivers in some of the poorest parts in the south of the country.

Around 60 per cent of the impoverished nation's roads are said to be damaged and an as yet unquantified volume of crops have been ruined.

President Manuel Zelaya has called a national state of emergency, calling for international aid and warning of a major disaster.

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