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MIAMI - Mexico's government issued a hurricane watch on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm Ida bore down on the country's Yucatan peninsula.
Ida could again become a hurricane by Sunday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, adding that the storm threatened to increase in power and hit the United States on Wednesday.
At 1500 GMT, Ida was 410 kilometers (255 miles) southeast of Mexican beach resort of Cozumel and about 430 kilometers (270 miles) south of the western tip of Cuba, the NHC said.
Ida's winds strengthened to 95 kilometers (60 miles) an hour, which qualified it for tropical storm status.
Ida was moving northward at 15 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.
"Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, and Ida could approach hurricane strength on Sunday," the center said.
Cuba also issued a tropical storm warning for the 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).
On Friday, Ida battered Nicaragua's Caribbean coast despite being downgraded to a tropical depression.
Heavy rains from Ida swelled Nicaraguan rivers, destroying an estimated 530 houses and hitting remote communities in one of Central America's poorest nations.
The NHC warned rains could produce flash floods and mudslides in Central America and the Caribbean.
- AFP /ls
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