Washington - Part of Mexico's eastern coast was under a hurricane watch early Tuesday from a small tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, US forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Marco was located about 105 kilometres north-east of Veracruz at 0300 GMT, the US National Hurricane Centre said. It was moving west-north-west at 11 kilometres per hour and would be near the coast by later Tuesday.

The storm was expected to drop from 5 to 10 centimetres of rain and bring winds off up to 100 kilometres per hour.

The hurricane watch extended from Cabo Rojo south to Veracruz. (dpa)