Weather officials say Hurricane Felix has strengthened into a dangerous category five storm with maximum sustained winds of 270 kilometers per hour.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported early Monday the storm's eye was over the Caribbean about 625 kilometers southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. Felix is moving northwest toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour.
Felix is moving northwest at 30 kilometers per hour. The current forecast shows the hurricane skirting the coast of Honduras Tuesday and making landfall in Belize on Wednesday.
A category five hurricane is capable of causing catastrophic damage. Forecasters said they expect the storm to fluctuate in strength.
The storm's outer bands brushed the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire off the coast of Central America on Sunday. There were reports of scattered power outages on the islands.
A tropical storm watch has been issued for Jamaica and for Grand Cayman.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Bloomberg.
