Tropical Storm Earl dumped heavy rains on the coast of Honduras as it barreled toward Belize, where it is expected to hit the coast as a hurricane on Wednesday night or early Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
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The commission warned of torrential rains, particularly along the northern coast.
Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm early Thursday after slamming into the coast of the Caribbean nation of Belize with winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kph) and moving inland over Guatemala and Mexico with heavy rains. The navy was looking for the two missing. Some people evacuated low-lying coastal areas in nearby Guatemala.
Maj. Shelton DeFour, national coordinator of Belize’s National Emergency Management Organization in Belmopan, said the cays – low-lying islands – were among the priorities in making hurricane preparations. Earl is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm later this morning and to a tropical depression by Friday morning. Other areas, including portions of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico could get between 8 and 12 inches of rain. Airports in northern Honduras were closed.
Shortly after the storm made landfall, its maximum sustained winds were about 65 miles per hour.
Officials also ordered the worldwide airport in Belize City to close and archaeological reserves and national parks were shut.
The NHC said that it was predicting the hurricane to continue inland in the direction of Guatemala and the southern Yucatan later on Thursday.
Employees of the Caribbean Villas Hotel, in San Pedro on Belize’s Ambergris Caye, pulled in beach chairs and chaise lounges as rain began to fall on the popular beach resort.
/A hurricane warning is in place from Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, south to the Belize-Guatemala border, as well as the Bay Islands in Honduras.
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When the system was a tropical wave over the Dominican Republic, it caused a bus crash that killed six people.
