Dean 4 Dead In Mexico, Could Revive In Pacific

POZA RICA, Mexico - The remnants of Hurricane Dean dumped heavy rain across central Mexico on Thursday, drenching mudslide-prone mountains as it pushed inland after slamming into the Gulf Coast as a Category 2 storm and killing four people.

Neighbors banded together to clear fallen trees with axes and machetes from the streets of this storm-lashed city, while workers began reconnecting downed power lines.

Mexican officials said Thursday that four people died after the storm struck the central Mexican coast. In Veracruz state, a man drowned trying to cross a swollen river and another was crushed to death by a rain-soaked wall. In neighboring Hidalgo state, a woman and her 14-year-old son were killed when their shack collapsed on them in a mountain village.

Jamaica also reported another death, bringing the hurricane's toll on the Caribbean to 25.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Dean to a tropical depression late Wednesday but was keeping close watch Thursday to see whether it would re-form over the Pacific Ocean. With up to 20 inches of rain expected, authorities worried there could still be floods or mudslides.

"We're going to monitor it during the day," said Richard Pasch, senior hurricane specialist. "Perhaps it's emerging into the Pacific."

Even if the system does slowly regain tropical storm force, it would carry another name because Dean weakened below tropical cyclone status over Mexico's mountains.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Dean made landfall near the town of Tecolutla in Mexico as a Category 2 storm with top sustained winds of 100 mph.

TECOLUTLA, Mexico (AP) -- Hurricane Dean strengthened into a Category 2 storm Wednesday as it raked the Mexican mainland, battered oil platforms and forced thousands to flee as it regained some of its power from earlier in the week.

The sprawling storm's outer winds buffeted the coast of Veracruz state, and its more powerful center was expected to slam ashore later in the day. Dean's maximum sustained winds reached 100 mph, up from 90 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Hurricane Center reports Dean is likely to continue intensifying before making landfall around noon EDT near Tuxpan along the central Mexican coast. Maximum sustained winds should be on the lower end of a Category 2 storm, between 96 and 110 mph.

HARLINGEN, Texas - Texans eased up their storm readiness Tuesday as a weakened Hurricane Dean blew westward across Mexico‘s Yucatan Peninsula on a path that was expected to bring nothing more than higher surf to the state.

Hurricane Dean is about to emerge into the Bay of Campeche.

At 1 p.m. the center of Hurricane Dean was located about 45 miles south-southeast of Campeche, Mexico.

Dean is moving toward the west near 18 mph and a west-northwestward to westward motion is expected today and tonight. On this track, the center of Dean will reach the southern Bay of Campeche in a couple of hours.

Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph with higher gusts. Dean is currently a Category 1 hurricane. Some restrengthening is expected after Dean enters the Bay of Campeche.

FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Mexico (AP) - Hours after making landfall with Category 5 winds on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Dean has calmed into a Category 2 storm.

But forecasters warn Dean could pick up steam as it crosses the Bay of Campeche (kam-PAY'-chay) and turn into a more destructive hurricane tomorrow, when it's expected to make landfall for a second time.

It had been a Category 5 cyclone, the strongest possible, when it struck land with winds of nearly 165mph.

But it has since weakened, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Centre. Dean began to lash Mexico's Yutcacan at around 9am British time, with heavy rain and howling winds battering beach resorts where thousands of tourists are huddling in shelters.

The eye of the storm hit land near Majahual, a port popular with cruise liners, and it was racing across the Yucatan Peninsula toward a Tuesday evening entry into the Bay of Campeche, where the state oil company evacuated the oil rigs that produce most of Mexico's oil.

In the largely Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, at one point about 30 miles from the center of the storm, people stared from their porches at broken tree limbs and electrical cables crisscrossing the streets, some of which were flooded with ankle-deep water.

Tin roofing ripped from houses clunked hollowly as it bounced in the wind whistling through town.

"We began to feel the strong winds about 2 in the morning and you could hear that the trees were breaking and some tin roofs were coming off," said Miguel Colli, a 36-year-old store employee. "Everyone holed up in their houses. Thank God that the worst is over."

The hurricane-force winds of a huge Category Five storm have struck Mexico, the US National Hurricane Centre has said.
 
Hurricane Dean has begun to lash Mexico's Caribbean coast with heavy rain and howling winds battering beach resorts where thousands of tourists are huddling in shelters.

DATA FROM THE AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT CURRENTLY INVESTIGATING HURRICANE DEAN INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO 160 MPH...MAKING DEAN A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.

TULUM, Mexico -- Tens of thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera on Monday as monstrous Hurricane Dean roared toward the ancient ruins and modern oil installations of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Mexico's state oil company, Petroleos de Mexico, said it was evacuating all of its more than 14,000 offshore workers in the southern Gulf of Mexico, which includes the giant Cantarell oil field.

Cancun seemed likely to be spared a direct hit, but visitors abandoned its swank hotels to swarm outbound flights. Officials evacuated more rustic lodgings farther south, where Dean -- which has killed at least 12 people across the Caribbean -- was expected to smash ashore early Tuesday.

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Hurricane Dean spared the Cayman Islands the worst of its fury on Monday as it headed for a collision course with Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, sending tourists fleeing for the airports and locals searching for higher ground.

Dean was already a powerful Category 4 storm as it raked the Cayman Islands. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could grow into a monstrous Category 5 hurricane before slashing across the Yucatan Peninsula and emerging in the Gulf of Campeche, dotted with oil rigs.

It was feared the tiny, low-lying Cayman Islands would be next to suffer Dean's destructive power, but the eye of the storm has passed more than 100 miles south of the British territory.

Dean is now forecast to slam into Belize and the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, including the popular tourist destination of Cancun.

100 PM CDT WED AUG 22 2007 ...DEAN INLAND OVER MEXICO AND BEGINNING TO WEAKEN... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT ALONG THE GULF COAST OF MEXICO FROM COATZACOALCOS NORTHWARD TO LA CRUZ. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT ALONG THE GULF COAST OF MEXICO FROM NORTH OF LA CRUZ TO BAHIA ALGODONES. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. AT 100 PM CDT...1800Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE DEAN WAS LOCATED INLAND NEAR LATITUDE 20.5 NORTH...LONGITUDE 97.3 WEST OR VERY NEAR POZA RICA MEXICO. DEAN IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 19 MPH...31 KM/HR...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO NEAR 85 MPH...140 KM/HR... WITH HIGHER GUSTS. DEAN IS NOW A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. CONTINUED WEAKENING IS EXPECTED UNTIL DEAN DISSIPATES OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL MEXICO TONIGHT. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 275 MILES...445 KM...MAINLY TO THE NORTHEAST OF THE CENTER. THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 982 MB...29.00 INCHES. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 6 TO 8 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS IS POSSIBLE...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...NEAR AND TO THE NORTH OF WHERE THE CENTER MADE LANDFALL. DEAN IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE STORM TOTAL RAINFALL OF 5 TO 10 INCHES OVER PARTS OF SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MEXICO...WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF UP TO 20 INCHES. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES. REPEATING THE 100 PM CDT POSITION...20.5 N...97.3 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...WEST NEAR 19 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...85 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...982 MB.

Nasa has ordered the space shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day early because of fears that Hurricane Dean might disrupt flight operations.

Hurricane Dean has destroyed all of Martinique's banana crop and 80 per cent of the plantations in the nearby Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, the head of the banana producers union says.