Chantal Expected to Gear Up Over Gulf

The once-mighty Tropical Storm Chantal continued to weaken as it churned a slow path across the Yucatan Peninsula, but forecasters warned that it could still develop into a hurricane once it hit the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.

Forecasters downgraded Chantal to a tropical depression late Tuesday, a day after the storm hit land with near-hurricane force, battering Chetumal’s shuttered homes and businesses, snapping power lines and hurling tree branches and debris through the air. About 2,000 people were forced to flee to hastily constructed government shelters.

Chantal was creeping across the Yucatan at 7 mph early today, its winds reduced to 30 mph. Tropical storms are downgraded to tropical depressions when their winds drop below 39 mph. They become hurricanes when their winds reach 74 mph.

The storm was expected to continue its methodical course and hit the Gulf of Mexico late today or early Thursday. The region’s warm waters could breath new life into the storm.

“It’s going to be a close call, but right now we think it’s going to turn into a hurricane,” said Eric Blake, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Mexican authorities were preparing for the storm’s second wind, putting emergency plans in place and closing ports and schools in the coastal states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas. The weather service issued a tropical storm warning for Tamaulipas.

Authorities said the storm was projected to stay on its current north-northwest track, a path that would take it over water for a longer time and make a hurricane likely.