U.S. forecasters Thursday issued a hurricane warning for the east coast of Nicaragua as Hurricane Ida approached from 60 miles offshore.

At 7 a.m., Ida was about 60 miles north-northeast of Bluefields, Nicaragua, moving toward the northwest near 7 mph with sustained winds of 75 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

"Ida will make landfall along the eastern coast of Nicaragua this morning and move across portions of eastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras during the next couple of days," the center said.

Tropical storm force winds were extending 50 miles outward from the center.

Ida is expected to produce as much as 15 to 20 inches of rain over eastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras, the center said.

A three-foot coastal storm surge was forecast to generate large and dangerous battering waves, although the center said water levels would begin to subside later in the day after landfall.