Its core was expected to strike near Belize City, the capital of the small Central American nation, around midnight Wednesday, August 3 (0600 GMT Thursday).
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Hurricane Earl became the first hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic season Wednesday, tentatively picking up speed late in the day after gorging on the warm waters of the Western Caribbean.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 75 miles per hour with higher gusts, and additional weakening is expected as the center moves farther inland.
Officials say that the hurricane hit over large numbers of trees and utility poles in Honduras.
He said the main impact will likely be Belize.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Earl has made landfall near Belize City, Belize, with maximum sustained winds near 80 miles per hour.
“It was a whole lot scarier than I thought”, said Philip Gray, a church member from Birmingham, Alabama, staying in Belize City. The storm is now taking aim at Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and Belize, threatening to bring heavy rain, strong winds and pounding surf along with it.
A hurricane warning was in place for Belize, parts of Mexico and islands off Honduras’ north coast. Some people in nearby Guatemala evacuated low-lying areas on the coast.
The hurricane is expected to weaken as it crosses Central America and Mexico, and to be a tropical depression by the time the center reaches the Bay of Campeche, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.
In eastern Honduras, 88 shipwrecked fishermen were rescued in La Mosquitia, while two are still missing, Luis Florentino, deputy chief of emergency agency COPECO, said by telephone. The Belize Tourism Board announced that cruise ship visits had been canceled for this week.
The six deaths and 12 injuries occurred when a bus was chartering a group back from a beach trip in the northeast, the Associated Press reports.
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Schools and universities closed across Honduras’ coastal provinces, and archaeological reserves and national parks were shut in Belize.
