Northern Central America is on high alert on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Lisa advances through the Caribbean Sea, which threatens to hit Belize's shores as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday evening before continuing on its way to northern Honduras gradually losing strength.
Lisa threatens northern Central America three weeks after Hurricane Julia swept through the region, killing around 100 people, with half drowned in Honduras and the rest buried by landslides in Guatemala and El Salvador .
Julia, which hit Nicaragua first, also caused extensive damage, including to infrastructure and food crops.
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According to the US hurricane center CNH, Lisa was advancing at a speed of 24 km/h on Tuesday about 440 km east of the Honduran island of Roatan, and, with sustained winds of 95 km/h, is to gradually strengthen to become a hurricane on Wednesday morning.
Honduras has placed the department of Islas de la Bahía on red alert and four departments in the north of the country on yellow alert.
Authorities in Belize have declared its entire coast on red alert.
Schools were closed on Tuesday while shelters will be open.
In Guatemala, the spokesman for the disaster reduction service (Conred) Rodolfo Garcia told the press that the authorities expect heavy rains, especially in the north and center of the country.
Cyclone Luisa is expected to enter northern Guatemala as a tropical storm on Thursday and will gradually lose strength as it continues toward Mexico, Rodolfo Garcia added.
El Salvador, which should be relatively spared, has however put more than twenty municipalities on alert where risks of flooding or landslides have been identified.
