Washington  - A new tropical storm, Arthur, was heading toward the coast of Belize and the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, said Saturday.

At 0200 GMT, the storm was centred over the southern Yucatan Peninsula, with winds of 65 kilometres per hour. The Mexican coast from Cabo Catoche, Mexico, south to Belize was also in the storm's cross-hairs.

Arthur was expected to continue moving westward over the next several days, dumping up to 25 centimetres of rain and possibly weakening to a depression, the hurricane centre said.

The storm is the first tropical storm of the Caribbean hurricane season, but the second to hit Central America after tropical storm Alma hit Honduras and Nicaragua from the Pacific side earlier this week.

Nicaragua evacuated 35,000 people from the coastal areas ahead of the storm, which claimed at least two lives. Another five people died in a storm-related plane accident in Honduras on Friday. (dpa)