Mexico has dropped all storm advisories associated with Earl and Belize has downgraded hurricane warnings to tropical storm alerts.
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Hot storm-force winds are probable on the rest of the northern Honduran shore also into early Thursday.
Hurricane Earl made landfall near Belize City, Belize with 80 miles per hour winds early this morning.
Heavy rains from the storm also fell on Honduras and led to hundreds of people taking cover on the Caribbean coast.
Earl made landfall just southwest of Belize City at about 2 a.m. with sustained maximum winds of 80 miles per hour.
A tropical storm warning/hurricane watch is in effect from Punta Allen, Mexico, south to the Belize-Guatemala border. Schools and universities closed across Honduras’ coastal provinces as did two commercial airports.
Forecasters said Earl was threatening to bring heavy rains, flooding and high winds to Mexico, Belize and Honduras, and was likely to blow past Honduras’ Roatan Island, a popular tourist destination, on Wednesday afternoon.
National Emergency Management Organization of Belize called Nemo cautioned of flashy inundating and mudslides in Earl’s awaken. Hurricanes form east of the International Date Line, while typhoons and cyclones form to the west.
Earl is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 8 to 12 inches over portions of Belize, Guatemala, and the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana, Tabasco and Veracruz through Friday morning.
Belize opened shelters across the country and cautioned residents to move to higher ground, especially in low-lying areas.
The global airport in Belize City was closed, along with archaeological reserves and national parks. Six people were killed in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, July 31, as the weather system passed near the island, according to a report from Weather Underground.
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The manager of the Caribbean Villas Hotel, in San Pedro on Belize’s Ambergris Caye, said: ‘Anything that’s not anchored in, we’ve pulled back and out of the way’.
