(Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Earl will continue to weaken asit crosses Belize after coming ashore early Thursday with drenchingrains and hurricane-strength winds, the U.S. National HurricaneCenter said.

Earl was 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Belize City with topwinds of 65 miles per hour, down from 80 mph earlier, theMiami-based hurricane center said in an 8 a.m. advisory. The stormwas moving west at 15 mph and is forecast skirt the southern edgeof Mexico’s Bay of Campeche Friday as a depression, the weakesttropical system.

“It may never emerge back out over the Bay of Campeche,” saidPaul Walker, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in StateCollege, Pennsylvania. “It may stay over land the whole time andcontinue to weaken.”

State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday it won’t evacuateany of its oil platforms and rigs in the Bay of Campeche. Thecompany, known as Pemex, produces more than three-quarters of itscrude from the Gulf of Mexico, which includes the Bay.

Belize and Guatemala could get 18 inches of rain

Mexico has dropped all storm advisories associated with Earl andBelize has downgraded hurricane warnings to tropical storm alerts.As much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain may still fall acrossparts of southern Mexico. Regions of Belize and Guatemala could getas much as 18 inches.

The deluge can cause flash floods and life-threateningmudslides, the center said. Belize has opened shelters forresidents around the country.

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