Tropical storm Richard strengthens as it nears Honduras

Oct 24, 2010, 2:03 GMT

Mexico City/Washington - Tropical storm Richard was strengthening Saturday as it approached Honduras, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami said.

An Air Force plane was investigating Richard, the NHC said, as the storm moved to 165 kilometres east-southeast of Isla Guanaja in Honduras, with winds of 100 km/hr.

Richard was forecast to become a hurricane on Sunday. The centre of the storm was expected to pass near the northeastern coast of Honduras late Saturday and could approach the coasts of Belize and southeastern Mexico early Sunday.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Honduras and Belize. The NHC said tropical storm conditions were possible for the Caribbean coast of Guatemala.

Alejandro Rodriguez, head of the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies, told a press conference Friday that the storm was expected to particularly impact indigenous communities near the Honduran border.

An estimated 1,500 Civil Defence officials were deployed in the area, with 22 boats and five helicopters available to respond to the storm.

Richard formed last weekend over the Caribbean and became a tropical storm late Wednesday.

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch stayed over the Gulf of Honduras for five days, causing heavy rain that claimed thousands of lives and caused great damage in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

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