At least three people are dead after Hurricane Felix landed in Central America, tearing into Nicaragua before weakening into a tropical storm that is expected to continue dumping rain on the region Wednesday. 

Tropical storm Felix is forecast to drop up to 63 centimetres of rain on parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, officials said Wednesday, triggering fears of flooding and mudslides in areas where shantytowns cling precariously to hillsides. Warnings have also been issued for parts of El Salvador.

Felix, which made history as the second top-scale hurricane to touch land in the same season following the arrival of Hurricane Dean last month, slammed into northeastern Nicaragua Tuesday morning at full strength, bringing with it winds of up to 260 km/h and torrential rain.

The Category 5 storm was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane as it moved inland, with winds dropping to 195 km/h. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center reclassified Felix as a tropical storm by nightfall.

At least three people are dead across Central America.

Officials say one man drowned when his boat capsized, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her house and a girl died shortly after birth because the storm prevented her from receiving medical attention.

Tuesday marked the first time in recorded history that Pacific and Atlantic hurricanes made landfall on the same day.

Henriette grew from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane as it made landfall on the Baja California peninsula on Tuesday. It is expected to reach the coast of mainland Mexico on Wednesday.

The storm has killed at least seven people in Mexico. One woman drowned in Cabo San Lucas on Monday, while six others were killed by floods and landslides in Acapulco over the weekend.

Tourists and residents at the popular resort area awoke Tuesday to dangerous winds, closed airports and forecasts of a direct hit. At its worst, Henriette's winds blew at 137 km/h.

In Ottawa, the government recommended Canadians avoid non-essential travel to the southern end of the Baja peninsula.

In Honduras, the government has released water from dams to try to reduce flooding. More than 27,000 people have been evacuated from areas across the country, including up to 700 tourists. In Nicaragua, more than 14,000 people were evacuated from their homes before Felix's arrival.

Relief organization CARE said Tuesday it will need $2 million US over the next three months to provide food, sanitation and shelter to 23,000 people affected by Felix.

Felix comes on the heels of Hurricane Dean, another Category 5 storm that tore across the Caribbean and parts of Mexico at the end of August, killing at least 20 people.

Felix's landfall marked the first time since 1886, when record keeping began, that two Category 5 hurricanes have hit land in a season, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Only 31 such storms have been recorded in the Atlantic, including eight in the last five seasons.