At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) the center of Tropical Storm Ivette was located near 14.6 degrees north latitude and 120.4 degrees west longitude.
Advertisement
Earl was reported to be 195 kilometers east of Isla Roatán, Honduras, and moving westward at 22 kilometers an hour, with landfall expected tonight in Belize.
With wind shear not too strong, a moist atmosphere, and the typically warm sea-surface temperatures of the western Caribbean Sea, Earl is expected to continue gaining some strength before landfall either as a strong tropical storm or low-end hurricane.
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for: Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, southward to the Belize/Guatemala border and the Bay Islands.
The NHC has issued a tropical storm warning for the coast of Honduras, Belize and the southern Yucatan peninsula.
Earl caused significant storm surge flooding in Florida’s Big Bend area.
Shelters are now open across the country to house evacuees.
As Earl moves inland the rainfall threat will shift to the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz from Thursday night to Saturday morning, where totals of as much as 16 inches are possible in localised areas of Belize and Mexico. The higher ground of Mexico and Belize could receive amounts approaching 400mm, which could result in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
The outer bands are bringing heavy rain and flooding across the northern coastline of Honduras.
The airport on diving destination Roatan off the coast of Honduras closed its airport Wednesday as heavy rains moved in.
Advertisement
“Once the system begins to interact with land, especially the higher elevations of Belize and Honduras, the system will struggle to remain organized”, AccuWeather notes.
