Storm Earl to Hit Belize, May Graze Oil-Rich Campeche Bay
- Fifth storm of year prompts warnings across Caribbean
- Storm set to become hurricane and make landfall in Belize
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Tropical Storm Earl, forecast to grow into a hurricane, may just graze Mexico’s oil-rich Bay of Campeche as it heads west toward the Honduras Bay Islands before making landfall in Belize within the next 24 hours.
Earl was 265 miles (425 kilometers) east-southeast of Belize City with top winds of 70 miles an hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 8 a.m. New York time. Its winds could peak at 80 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale just before striking Belize’s coast early Thursday.