CANCUN, Mexico (August 7, 2012)—Evacuations began Tuesday in Mexico, where Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to slam into the country’s Caribbean coast as a hurricane late Tuesday night.

Soldiers and police were moving 600 residents from the fishing village of Punta Allen in Mexico's Quintana Roo state and authorities were opening evacuation centers and preparing to move people from other low-lying coastal areas.

Ernesto was about 200 miles east of Chetumal, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour and was moving west-northwest at 14 miles per hour.

Winds area expected to strengthen to at least 74 miles per hour.

Hurricane warnings were up for the coast of Belize and the southern half of Mexico's Caribbean Yucatan coast.

Tropical storm warnings were posted for the northern part of the Yucatan coast up to Cancun.