However, in recent hours Gamma has weakened in intensity and been downgraded to a tropical depression.

In neighboring Belize, five fishermen were missing at sea in the slow-moving storm, authorities told Channel 5 Belize.

A small plane owned by Blancaneaux Lodge, owned by film director Francis Ford Coppola, also went missing with a pilot and two passengers aboard, authorities told Channel 5.

US forecasters said Gamma has become less potent and that storm conditions have diminished over the Honduras' northern Caribbean coast.

The Honduran government nonetheless made an urgent request for US helicopters to help rescue dozens of people left stranded on rooftops by floods and mudslides across the country's northern coast.

Authorities said the government had asked for assistance from US army helicopters which operate from the Palmerola Air Base north of the capital.

The helicopters took part in distributing vital emergency rations to victims of earlier hurricanes this year.

"Indications are that this thing could be with us for the next or three days, so we certainly are looking forward to a very wet weekend with possibly flooding occurring across the country," Belize's chief meteorologist Carlos Fuller said.

More than 11,600 people have been evacuated from areas struck by Tropical Storm Gamma on Friday and Saturday, Honduran officials said.

Gamma, the 24th named storm in a record Atlantic hurricane season, was drifting erratically off the Honduras coast, and continuing to weaken Sunday.

In Cuba, the Meteorological Institute warned this weekend that the weather system could threaten the island as it was expected to move slowly northward.

"Pay attention to the development of the coming weather system," because "the unusual storm comes with a cold front," said Jose Rubiera, head of storm predictions at the institute.

"What we will have is a weather system alongside a cold front, which will be the first cold of the winter season," he said on local television.

He predicted "heavy rains, intense at times, but not long-lasting, along with winds of up to 90 kilometers (55 miles) per hour in the western part of the country," overnight Sunday and lasting until midday Monday.

At 1500 GMT, the center of Gamma, packing maximum sustained winds near 35 miles per hour (55 kilometers per hour), was located about 80 mileskilometers) north-northeast of Limon Honduras and about 195 mileskilometers) east-southeast of Belize City, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"The depression is drifting toward the northwest near three miles per hour (five kilometers an hour). However, some erratic motion will be possible since steering currents are forecast to remain weak," the US center said.

This year's Atlantic tropical storm season, which ends on November 30, is the most active ever recorded, with 27 named storms, 13 of which developed into hurricanes.

The United States has a fleet of troop and cargo transport helicopters at Palmerola, also home to 500 US troops.

The United States loaned the helicopters to ship, along with Honduran air force choppers, some 2,000 tonnes of food to about 14,000 people hit by hurricanes Katrina, Stan and Wilma in recent weeks.

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