More than 35 people are reported to have been killed as gale force winds and torrential downpours swept across the Central American region. Widespread flooding prompted more than 150,000 to seek higher ground.

The hurricane is weakening but forecasters say it still poses considerable danger. It is now said to be blowing at about a third of its previous force.

At its peak on Tuesday, it was the fourth-strongest Caribbean hurricane this century, with 180mph (305kph) winds. By 0300GMT on Friday, its sustained wind speed had fallen to 50mph (80kph).

The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said the centre of the storm had moved slightly south and was about 25m (40km) south of Limon in Honduras.

Forecasters have said Mitch would probably weaken if it remained over land, but could regain force if it returned to sea, and that Honduras and Nicaragua could still expect heavy rains and flooding in the next 48 hours.

The most ferocious Atlantic storm this decade

Honduran officials said the hurricane left more than 200 towns and villages isolated - without power, telephones or clean drinking water.

Guatemala and Nicaragua were also hit by heavy rain.

Officials in Mexico, however, have eased emergency measures on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Earlier this week, thousands of residents and tourists were evacuated. Hundreds of shelters were set up and at least 10 ports closed.

In Honduras, many towns have been cut off by flooding rivers

In Belize, most of the 75,000 people in Belize City fled inland in cars and government buses.

Hurricanes are common in the Atlantic Basin but the region's communities have rarely had to cope with anything quite like this.

The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin - which includes the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico - was Hurricane Gilbert, which devastated Jamaica, the Caymans, Martinique and parts of Mexico in 1988, killing 318 people.