Hurricane Delta has emerged into the Gulf of Mexico and is headed toward Louisiana after making landfall just south of the Mexican resort of Cancun.
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The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Delta weakened to a Category 1 storm during the afternoon, but it began strengthening again while moving over the southern Gulf, rising to maximum sustained winds of 150km/h by evening.
It was expected to gain even more strengthen before reaching the US Gulf coast.
On Wednesday evening, the storm was centreed about 550 miles 900km south-southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, and heading northwest at 28km/h.
The hurricane came ashore in Mexico around 5.30am on Wednesday with top winds of 175km/h.
Officials said it caused no deaths or injuries, but did force hundreds of tourists to take refuge in storm shelters. It knocked out power to about 266,000 customers, or about one-third of the total on the Yucatan peninsula.
There were no reports of any deaths or injuries.
More than a thousand trees were knocked down by strong winds, but authorities expressed confidence that electricity would be restored to 80 per cent of those affected by Wednesday night.
People in Louisiana or Mississippi should prepare now for hurricane-force winds to begin hitting their coastlines on Friday, the hurricane centre advised.
Australian Associated Press
