Hurricane Otto to hit Central America on Thanksgiving Thursday

Tropical Storm Otto has strengthened to become a hurricane and meteorologists believe that the storm will hit the coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua on 24th November.

The storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 75mph (121km/h), is currently moving in from the Atlantic Ocean and could be the first hurricane to be recorded in Costa Rica since records began in 1851.

The Atlantic hurricane season "ends" on 30 November, with Otto possibly the last of the year and the 15th named hurricane of 2016. Hurricane Otto comes just weeks after Hurricane Matthew killed an estimated 1,000 people in Haiti and caused damage across the Carribean region and east coast of the US.

Otto is not expected to impact the US but residents of Central America are being warned to monitor the situation, and boats are warned not to go to sea.

The US-based National Hurricane Center said flash floods, riptides and dangerous surf could be an issue along much of the east coast of Central America, with Panama also at risk.

Some areas could receive up to 10-15 inches of rain. Four people have already died in Panama and school classes have been suspended, the BBC reports.

AccuWeather Hurricane Expert, Dan Kottlowski, warned Otto could bring heavy rain and landslides in affected areas.

"Steering winds will cause Otto to take a general westerly path during the middle and later part of this week, which will bring the storm inland over southeastern Nicaragua or northeastern Costa Rica on Thursday," said Kottlowski.

Up to 1.4 million people in Haiti still require aid as a result of Hurricane Matthew, according to Reuters. Deaths were also recorded in the USA, Dominican Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Colombia. Altogether up to 1,600 are believed to have died. However Matthew was a Category 5 whereas Otto is graded as a category 1, so is not predicted to cause as much damage.