PANAMA CITY (AP) -- Civil defense officials in Panama say the country has already seen three deaths blamed on late-season storm Otto.
The agency says two people died in landslides, and a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school in Panama City.
Panama announced Tuesday it was cancelling classes it began to release water from locks and lakes feeding the Panama Canal.
Otto gained strength in the Caribbean and became a hurricane Tuesday afternoon. It is heading for a possible Thursday landfall in Costa Rica or Nicaragua.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm has top sustained winds of 75 mph.