Hurricane Rina becomes Category 2 storm

MIAMI?? Hurricane Rina strengthened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday as it swirled off Central America's Caribbean coast.

A hurricane watch has been issued for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun. A tropical storm watch was in effect from Chetumal to Punta Gruesa.

Rina's maximum sustained winds are near 100 mph. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said additional strengthening was forecast and Rina could become a major hurricane by Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

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The hurricane was centered about 320 miles east-southeast of Chetumal and is moving west-northwest near 3 mph.

In Nicaragua, the air force launched an aerial search Monday for a Navy boat that disappeared Sunday while trying to evacuate residents from a low-lying coastal village.

Honduras, Central America's largest coffee producer, saw its coast brushed by the storm but coffee-growing areas were largely spared from more rains after heavy downpours last week collapsed roads to farms before the harvesting season.

On Monday afternoon, skies were clear in Guatemala ? the region's No. 2 coffee grower ? and in El Salvador, also a producer of high-quality arabica beans.

Farmers are still assessing damages from the earlier rains but national coffee associations say that infrastructure damage will be the biggest challenge.

Arabica coffee trading on ICE Futures U.S. got a boost from concerns about the hurricane after two weeks of rainstorms, that killed around 100 people across Central America.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45027451/ns/weather/

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