BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Nadine swirled across Belize on Saturday morning, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to the Central American nation and the neighboring Yucatan Peninsula to the north in Mexico.
From there, the storm was expected to push into northern Guatemala and Mexico’s southeastern states of Chiapas and Tabasco, a forecast from the U.S.-based National Hurricane Center showed.
Nadine began lashing Belize with rains late on Friday night, with showers and thunderstorms bringing up to 2 inches of rain, chief meteorologist Ronald Gordon told Reuters.
By Saturday morning, the storm had passed over Belize’s Half Moon Caye on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll.
Nadine, crawling west at about nine miles an hour, was packing maximum winds of 45 mph with higher gusts, the NHC said, adding the winds were blowing as far north as 230 miles from the storm’s center.
The NHC’s tropical storm warning stretches from Belize City to Mexican beach resorts Cancun and Cozumel.
The storm system is expected to dump an additional four to eight inches of rain as it pushes inland, according to the NHC, with some isolated areas expected to receive more than 12 inches through Tuesday.
In Belize, low-lying bridges and sections of the Coastal Highway south of Belize City will likely be submerged, according to the nation’s principal hydrologist.
Popular tourist destinations off mainland Belize – including San Pedro, Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker – are likely to be hit by the storm.
Nadine will likely weaken Saturday afternoon once the storm is inland, and should dissipate over Mexico by Sunday morning, the NHC said.
(Reporting by Jose Sanchez in Belize City; Editing by Kylie Madry and Alistair Bell)
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