The worst landslides were on the main road linking Guatemala with Mexico. Emergency services in Guatemala say up to 100 people are feared to have been buried by landslides on the main highway linking it with Mexico.
The fire department said dozens of people were trying to dig a bus out of a mudslide when a second one engulfed them.
Across Guatemala, 36 people have been confirmed dead in floods and landslides caused by heavy rain.
President Alvaro Colom has called the situation a national tragedy. He has visited the site where rescuers are digging frantically to find people buried in thick mud. "This weekend alone we have seen damage comparable to what we experienced with Agatha", Mr Colom said, referring to a tropical storm that killed 165 people in May.
The government had already advised people to stay off the road after 12 people were killed when another bus was engulfed by a mudslide on a different stretch of the same road on Saturday.
More than 100km (65 miles) of the Inter-American highway is closed to all traffic, and many other roads have been blocked.
Days of heavy rains have saturated Guatemala's mountainous terrain, causing hillsides to collapse suddenly and without warning.
President Colom said the rains had undone all the reconstruction work completed since Tropical Storm Agatha.
On Saturday he declared a state of emergency and asked congress to approve emergency funds for rebuilding. He said he would also propose a special tax to help pay for reconstruction, saying there were not enough funds available to deal with the disaster.
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