The newly-formed Tropical Storm Zeta has stalled in the western Caribbean but forecasters believe it poses the risk of unleashing a rain-laden hurricane on the US Gulf Coast and Mexico's resort-dotted Yucatan Peninsula.
Zeta was the earliest-named 27th Atlantic storm recorded in an already historic hurricane season.
The system was centred about 275 miles south-east of Cozumel island in Mexico on Sunday morning, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.
It was nearly stationary, though forecasters said it was likely to near the north-eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula or westernmost Cuba by late Monday or early Tuesday and then the US Gulf Coast by Wednesday.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and forecasters said Zeta was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Tuesday.
When a storm gets stuck, it can unload dangerous downpours over one place, which causes flooding when a storm is over or near land.
That happened in 2017 over Houston with Harvey, when more than 60 inches of rain fell and 2019 over the Bahamas with a Category 5 Dorian.
Australian Associated Press
