Hurricane Earl thundered towards the shores of Belize on Wednesday (August 3), dumping heavy rains on Honduras and prompting hundreds of people to take cover on the Caribbean coastline as the large storm closed in.
Four hundred people have so far been evacuated from Belize’s northern islands Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, Lionel Cuthkelvin, operations officer at the National Emergency Management Organization, said by telephone.
Cuthkelvin said at least 20 shelters were already harbouring people, mainly in Belize City, Stann Creek and some villages off the Caribbean coast. Residents of Belize City and other coastal communities were being urged to move inland.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Earl was blowing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (121 km per hour), as it churned 150 miles east of Belize City (241 km/h).
The storm is expected to weaken when it reaches the coast and moves inland. Earl is forecast to hit Belize later on Wednesday or early on Thursday, the NHC said.
Earl, the fifth named storm of the 2016 season, is expected to bring 8 to 10 inches of rain that could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides in parts of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico through Thursday night, the Miami-based NHC said in a statement.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016
