MIAMI (AFP) - Mexico's government issued a hurricane warning on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm Ida bore down on the country's Yucatan peninsula.
Ida was quickly picking up strength and could again become a hurricane late Saturday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, adding that the storm threatened to hit the United States on Wednesday.
At 2100 GMT the center of Ida was located about 200 miles (325 kilometers) southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 195 miles (320 kilometers) south of the western tip of Cuba, the NHC said.
"Maximum sustained winds are near 70 miles (110 km) per hour ... with higher gusts," said the Center.
Ida could become a hurricane late Saturday, "but weakening is expected after Ida enters the Gulf of Mexico," the NHC said.
Ida was moving northward at 10 miles (17 kilometers) per hour, and was forecast to pick up speed, turn northwest, and touch the northern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday, then move into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Cuba also issued a tropical storm warning for its westernmost Pinar del Rio province.
The storm is expected to dump up to 13 centimeters (five inches) of rain over parts of the Yucatan peninsula and Cuba, "with possible isolated maximum amounts" of 25 centimeters (10 inches).
The NHC warned rains could produce flash floods and mudslides in Central America and the Caribbean.
Thursday, Ida battered Nicaragua's Caribbean coast despite being downgraded to a tropical depression.
Heavy rains from Ida swelled Nicaraguan rivers, destroying an estimated 930 houses and hitting remote communities in one of Central America's poorest nations.
Around 13,000 people were left homeless following the deluge.
Nicaragua's government on Friday began distributing food, medicine and water to affected communities via army airplanes and boats.
But according to local media reports many victims of the storm in remote areas have yet to receive any relief and have been forced to sleep in outdoors after losing their homes.
