Tropical Storm Alex Hits Belize, Threatens Gulf

MIAMI (AFP)--Tropical Storm Alex, the first of the Atlantic season, made landfall in Belize late Saturday as it caused concern for efforts to clean up the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, US forecasters said. The storm is likely to miss the spill area if it stays on its current track, but it but could generate waves that would impact cleanup efforts, according to the US National Hurricane Center. At 0300 GMT, the eye of the storm, which packed sustained winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) an hour, was located just 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Belize City, the center said. Alex, which dumped heavy rain of the affected area, was forecast to move across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday and enter the Gulf of Mexico late that day. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves over Yucatan, but "strengthening is forecast on Sunday night as Alex moves over the Southern Gulf of Mexico," the NHC said. The storm will dump heavy rain over the Yucatan peninsula through Sunday, with rain accumulations of 10-25 centimeters, though isolated amounts of up to 38 centimeters are possible over mountainous areas. "These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the NHC warned, noting that "tropical storm winds" were already affecting Belize and the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the coast of Belize and the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. But a tropical storm watch for the coast of Honduras has been discontinued. In Nicaragua, authorities alerted air and maritime traffic and localities in the north, central and western regions of the country to possible heavy rains and strong winds associated with the storm. The NHC's five-day forecast has the storm heading over the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of the US-Mexico border, but with a possibility of deviating along a broad area that would graze the site of the huge oil slick unleashed by the April 20 explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig. A forecaster at the NHC however downplayed a direct hit on the oil cleanup area. "The storm is not an issue for the spill," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen. "It may be going to Mexico. We do not see the path of the storm taking [it] into the northeast Gulf--but that doesn't mean there won't be some wave impact." In Mexico, authorities declared the Yucatan Peninsula in a state of preventive alert "for the potential of intense to torrential rain" as Alex approached. (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 26, 2010 23:30 ET (03:30 GMT)