Three dead as Hurricane Otto advances across Caribbean

Hurricane Otto has caused three deaths and thousands to be evacuated as it moves across the Caribbean.

A handout picture shows people that are evacuated by the police in several zones of the North Caribbean, province of Limon, Costa Rica, on 22 November 2016. Source: AAP

Late-season storm Otto has strengthened into a hurricane as civil defense officials reported three deaths in Panama and Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast.

The US National Hurricane Centre said Otto was likely to gain strength as it headed for an expected Thursday afternoon landfall around the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border.

It could become the first hurricane to make landfall in Costa Rica since reliable record-keeping began in 1851.

The storm caused heavy rains in Panama as it moved off that nation's northern coast, and officials blamed Otto for three deaths.

Costa Rica's National Emergency Commission said it was evacuating 4,000 people from the area where the storm was expected to hit and where rivers could overflow.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said Otto could damage the country's important coffee and agriculture sectors.

Early on Tuesday evening, the hurricane had top sustained winds of 120 kph and was moving westward, the US hurricane centre said.