Lisa Becomes a Hurricane on Her Way to Belize

Currents generated by Lisa will affect Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and parts of Central America for a couple of days.

On Wednesday morning, tropical storm Lisa strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on its way to Belize, while Martin strengthens in the mid-North Atlantic and will also become a hurricane.

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At 08:00 local time, Lisa was 60 miles northeast of Roatan Island (Honduras) and about 100 miles east of Belize City, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported, adding that Lisa had maximum sustained winds reaching 75 miles per hour.

Lisa has put the Belizean coast, the Honduran Bay Islands, and a strip of the southeastern coast of Mexico, from Chetumal to Puerto Costa Maya, on alert.

The hurricane is moving west near 15 mph and is expected to continue on that track, albeit at a slower speed, over the next two days.

According to the NHC's track pattern, Lisa's center will move near or north of the Bay Islands, make landfall in Belize, and cross northern Guatemala into southeastern Mexico on Thursday.

Lisa's tropical storm force winds extend out to 70 miles from its center. It will produce rain in Honduras, Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala, with the risk of flash flooding, and a storm surge that can raise sea levels up to a maximum of 7 feet where it makes landfall.

Currents generated by Lisa will affect Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and parts of Central America for a couple of days.

As for Martin, its winds are reaching 65 miles per hour and it is moving at 15 miles per hour away from the coast. The storm is expected to strengthen to a hurricane on Wednesday before becoming a very powerful extratropical wave on Thursday.