 Hurricane Keith was a storm in October 2000 that caused extensive damage in Central America , especially in Mexico and Belize . It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone , eleventh named storm , and seventh hurricane of the that year 's Atlantic hurricane season . Keith developed as a tropical depression from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on September 28 . The depression gradually strengthened , and became Tropical Storm Keith on the following day . As the storm tracked westward , it continued to intensify and was upgraded to a hurricane on September 30 . Shortly thereafter , Keith began to rapidly deepen , and peaked as a Category 4 hurricane less than 24 hours later . Keith then began to meander erratically offshore of Belize , which significantly weakened the storm due to land interaction . By late on October 2 , Keith made landfall in Ambergris Caye , Belize as a minimal hurricane . It quickly weakened to a tropical storm , before another landfall occurred near Belize City early on the following day . While moving inland over the Yucatán Peninsula , Keith weakened further , and was downgraded to a tropical depression before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on October 4 . Once in the Gulf of Mexico , Keith began to re @-@ strengthen and was upgraded to a tropical storm later that day , and a hurricane on the following day . By late on October 5 , Keith made its third and final landfall near Tampico , Tamaulipas , Mexico as a moderately strong Category4 hurricane . The storm quickly weakened inland and dissipated as a tropical cyclone by 24 hours after landfall . 
