However, the Mexican government is said to have discontinued all hurricane warnings following the downgrading. As it crossed northern Guatemala, Earl had sustained winds near 65 miles per hour (105 kph). Weakening is expected after the center of Earl moves inland. Tropical storm warnings extend northward to Punta Allen, Quintana Roo, but do not include Cancun or Cozumel. Bonnie, Colin and Danielle, were all named tropical storms.
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Earl was blowing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (121 km per hour), as it churned about 40 miles east of Belize City (64 km), the NHC said. A turn toward the west-northwest and a decrease in forward speed are expected later today.
Hurricane Earl is the first hurricane to make landfall in Belize since 2010 when Category 2 Hurricane Richard hit.
Four hundred people have so far been evacuated from the Central American country’s northern islands Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, Lionel Cuthkelvin, operations officer at Belize’s National Emergency Management Organization, said in a telephone call on Wednesday.
Earl is the second hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic season. A Category 1 hurricane has winds of 74 to 95 mph (119 to 153 kilomters per hour). It is forecast to lose strength as it tracks over the Yucatan Peninsula, becoming a remnant low over the Bay of Campeche before ending up between Mexico City and Veracruz. Isolated maximum amounts of 16 inches are possible in Belize and Mexico.
The US National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving roughly westward and threatens neighboring Guatemala and southern Mexico with torrential rain. This could cause some coastal flooding along the immediate coastline of the Honduran Bay Islands, Belize, adjacent parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and damaging waves.
Puerto Barrios – A hurricane gathering force as it swept in from the Caribbean was threatening flooding and mudslides in Belize on Thursday after making landfall in the middle of the night, officials warned.
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The path of Earl is about to remain thriving south of the U.S.
