Wind: Tropical storm conditions within a small area near the center should spread westward over northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico today.
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Earl is forecast to be downgraded to a tropical depression Thursday night or Friday morning.
Earl has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Belize early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm could be at near-hurricane strength when it approaches Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula early Thursday. “For coastal areas, there is also a risk for flooding, especially in low-lying areas”.
But in the meantime Belize’s National Emergency Management Organisation has warned that heavy rain could cause flash floods and mud slides, and create a storm surge along the shore.
As per CNN, The National Hurricane Center in Miami revealed the Category 1 storm is pushing west at 14 mph (23 kph), resulting in hurricane warnings issued in Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico south to the Belize – Guatemala boarder. Hurricane Earl bore down on the coast of the Caribbean nation of Beli.
Earl is moving toward the west near 12 miles per hour and this general motion is expected to continue during the next couple of days. A hurricane warning was in place for Belize and parts of Mexico, though the storm was expected to begin weakening when it moved ashore.
The storm knocked over a large numbers of trees and utility poles in Honduras, officials say. The navy was looking for the two missing.
Officials have ordered the closure of the city’s global airport while archaeological reserves and national parks were also shut. Authorities also rescued four families in the coastal city of Trujillo after a river flooded. Airports in northern Honduras were closed. The Belize Tourism Board announced that cruise ship calls had been canceled for this week.
“Anything that’s not anchored in, we’ve pulled back and out of the way”, said hotel manager Paul Jewitt, the Associated Press reports.
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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.
