Hurricane Keith causes chaos

Thousands were evacuated as Keith approached

A powerful hurricane with winds of more than 215km/h (135mph) has hit the Caribbean coast of Belize, damaging buildings and toppling power lines.

Residents of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and north-eastern Belize fled their homes on Sunday as Hurricane Keith came Ashore.

The situation is pretty rough out there right now

William Skeen, Red Cross

More than 60,000 people were evacuated from parts of the eastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

There are reports of injuries, but the number is unknown.

Heavy rains have hit Nicaragua

Areas of neighbouring Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua have already been hit by the hurricane, which has brought heavy rains and fears of flash floods and mud slides.

The storm started to lose strength by late afternoon as it drifted farther inland, with winds dropping slightly.

But offshore, the small sand islands of Ambergris Cay and Caye Caulker, which are both popular with tourists, were hit hard.

A government spokesman said the wind strengthened very quickly, making the seas too rough for boats to get anyone out.

Ankle-deep

"The situation is pretty rough out there," said William Skeen, director of the Red Cross in Belize City. "People really are in a frightened state."

In Belize City, streets were under about a foot of water and power lines were down.

At 1700 (2100GMT), Hurricane Keith was 25km (15 miles) east of the resort of San Pedro on Ambergis Cay, and about 60km (40 miles) north east of Belize City.

On the Mexican side, it was about 80km (50 miles) east-south east of Chetumal, about 300km (190 miles) south of the large holiday resort of Cancun.

But many of the residents in Chetumal seemed to be taking the bad weather in stride.

Families waded down the streets in ankle-deep water. Others rode their bikes through the pounding rain.