The US National Hurricane Center said the category one storm had maximum sustained winds of 120km/h at landfall. By late Wednesday the storm's centre was about 30 kilometres west of Belize City and moving west at 19km/h.
Belize's National Emergency Management Organisation said the storm came ashore between the beach town of Dangriga and Belize City.
"Everyone at home or in shelters need to remain in place until the state of emergency has been lifted," the national emergency management organisation said in a statement.
Lisa was forecast to cross Belize into northern Guatemala and then move into southeastern Mexico by Thursday.
The hurricane centre warned of the danger of flooding and mudslides from heavy rain. It said the storm could drop 10 to 15 centimetres on Belize, the Bay Islands, northern Guatemala, the eastern portion of Mexico's Chiapas state and the Mexican state of Tabasco.
A hurricane warning was posted for Roatan island and the other Bay Islands of Honduras as well as the coast of Belize north and the southern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Puerto Costa Maya.
Lisa could re-emerge into the Gulf of Mexico, but as a tropical depression.
Far out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Martin rose to hurricane strength on Wednesday, but forecasters said it posed no immediate threat to land.
11°C