A tropical depression formed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico and forecasters warn it could become a tropical storm during the night or on Tuesday, capably of dumping heavy rains over parts of southern Mexico and Central America.

The US National Hurricane Center said the depression formed Monday afternoon about 50 miles (80 kilometres) west-southwest of Campeche, Mexico. At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 30 mph (45 kph) as it moved toward the west-northwest near 7 mph (11 kph).

The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm warning from Campeche west to the port of Veracruz on that country’s Gulf coast. The warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in that warning area within 36 hours.

The Miami-based hurricane centre said the storm is expected to unleash heavy rains with potential accumulations of 10 to 15 inches (25-40 centimetres) over parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz and adjacent portions of Guatemala.

Forecasters added that 5 to 10 inches (12-25 centimetres) of rain could fall on parts of El Salvador and Honduras with possibly higher amounts in isolated areas.

The hurricane centre said the storm, because of the expected heavy rains, threatens possible flash floods and mudslides in areas along its projected path in the southern Gulf.

Amid a pandemic and the remnants of a tropical storm, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador kicked off Mexico’s return to a “new normal” Monday with his first road trip in two months as the nation began to gradually ease some virus-inspired restrictions.

Lopez Obrador said he’s taking all necessary precautions – he drove the 1,000 miles from Mexico City over the weekend rather than flying – on a trip to promote construction of one of his signature infrastructure projects the Mayan Train.

While the federal government’s nationwide social distancing rule formally ended Monday, it is urging people in so-called “red” zones to maintain most of those measures – and so many people are falling ill and dying each day that those zones cover nearly the whole country.

Mexico is nearing 100,000 confirmed infections and nearly 10,000 deaths, both considered to be undercounts.

Mexican officials said last week that more than 5,000 companies had implemented protocols that would allow them to reopen this week. The federal government had cleared businesses in the mining, construction and auto manufacturing sectors to resume operations.

While in Cancun, the president was also talking up what local officials hope is the quick return of tourists. Mexico’s most popular beach destination officially plans to reopen next week – albeit with social distancing restrictions such as a ban on buffets. Quintana Roo Gov. Carlos Manuel Joaquin Gonzalez said they’ve already started receiving reservations, but if there’s a new surge in infections, they’ll suspend the reopening.

But around Cancun, nothing appeared normal yet. The beaches were empty, bars and restaurants remained closed. Locals walked around wearing masks and traffic was light. The dramatic drop of international air travel and April 1 closure of Cancun’s beaches left thousands unemployed.

Cancun resident Andres Jose Conrado said maybe his city could reopen in a few months, but it was more important to continue with the health precautions.

“I say it’s very early (to reopen),” Conrado said, a cloth mask over his nose and mouth. “For now I say it’s not necessary.”

But Sergio Ortega Jara, another resident who is out of work, said they need to get jobs back. He conceded that the virus was a real danger, but insisted people need income. “It’s kind of bad, there’s no work,” Ortega said.

In Mexico City, traffic has increased significantly in the past week. More people are out in the streets, though in some neighbourhoods that foot traffic had hardly ever diminished. The mayor urged residents via Twitter on Monday to stay at home if it wasn’t absolutely necessary to go out.

Still, public spaces vacant of people during the past two months were bustling on Monday. There were protests by police and unemployed musicians in the principal plaza. People strolled in the historic centre and along a main boulevard. Cleaning and disinfecting seemed to be happening everywhere as still-closed offices and restaurants prepared to open.

A long line of people seeking construction permits stretched in front of a city office building. While the city has had some success imposing orderly lines at its subway stations, a commuter bus line station was chaos. Most people at least appeared to be wearing masks.

On Monday, Lopez Obrador highlighted a couple of hot spots, including the Pacific Coast beach destination Acapulco and his home state of Tabasco.

“We’re going to carefully return to productive activities,” he said.

Later in the day during a visit to a military base on Isla Mujeres, Lopez Obrador warned that if there were new outbreaks and a surge in infections, restrictions would be tightened again.

For the most part Mexico’s restrictions have been recommendations. Lopez Obrador repeated Monday that he preferred reasoning with people to “authoritarian impositions.”

The Pacific resorts of Los Cabos had initially set June 1 to reopen, but have now pushed that deeper into the month.

Officially the area at the tip of Baja California Sur remains closed for tourism, though video recently circulated of tourists being welcomed with dancers and party at a hotel in Cabo San Lucas. Mauricio Perez Salicrup, president of the local hotels association, clarified that those were timeshare owners, which he said could not be kept away. “The destination never closed to international flights,” he said.

Lopez Obrador planned to spend the week promoting the start of construction for the Mayan Train, which will whisk tourists from resort destinations like Cancun into the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula. It has been criticized as an environmental threat and faces opposition from indigenous communities, but he says it will create 80,000 jobs.

The president has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic. He continued to travel the country a month after Mexico’s first confirmed case and has continually mixed messages of a need to take precautions with the country’s need to reactivate its economy.

Mexico’s Social Security Institute said in April that the country had lost 550,000 jobs during the epidemic and Lopez Obrador recently said another 400,000 were lost in May. Mexico’s central bank projected last week that the economy would shrink as much as 8.8% this year.

On his way to Cancun, Lopez Obrador tried to highlight positive economic signs, noting the peso has regained a bit of value against the dollar and the price of oil has risen slightly.

“I wanted to give you good news,” Lopez Obrador said. “There is economic recovery. The model we are using is showing us results.”

The remnants of Tropical Storm Amanda which left at least a dozen dead over the weekend in Central America were expected to dump rain on the Yucatan Peninsula and forecasters said it might reform within days over the southern Gulf of Mexico.