Hurricane Dean wreaked havoc on the south coast of Jamaica on Sunday evening. However, the Category 4 hurricane spared the Caribbean island a direct hit.
The storm pounded the region with torrential rain -- up to 50 centimetres were predicted for some areas -- and sustained wind speeds of between 130 and 160 km/h. Maximum sustained winds on the open ocean are being measured at 230 km/h.
At 11 p.m. ET, the Category 4 hurricane's eye was 215 kilometres west-southwest of Kingston, moving westward at 32 kilometres per hour. Hurricane-force winds extend out 95 kilometres on either side of the eye.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre describes Dean as an "extremely dangerous" hurricane.
Joe Bastardi of AccWeather.com told Â鶹´«Ã½net that Jamaica's eastern-most mountains initially protected Kingston from Dean.
As the hurricane continued moving westward, the winds shifted and hit Kingston with 160 km/h winds, he said.
In Jamaica, 1,000 shelters were set up in schools, churches and the national sports arena. The country's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller pleaded with residents to evacuate their homes and head to a shelter but many residents refused, choosing to protect their property and belongings.
At the time the storm hit, however, only 47 shelters were occupied, according to Cecil Bailey of Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.
"Too much crime in Kingston. I'm not leaving my home," Paul Lyn said from Port Royal, east of Kingston.
Linval Bailey, assistant commissioner of police, said police were taking measures to prevent looting. Authorities were sent to monitor commercial districts and curfews were imposed until Monday evening.
Dean is believed to be responsible for at least eight deaths on the islands of St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Other targets
The Cayman Islands, which sit several hundred kilometres west of Jamaica, should also be spared a direct hit by Dean when it passes by Monday morning (the hurricane was 315 km to the east-southeast at 11 p.m. ET).
However, the wealthy British protectorate could get up to 20 centimetres of rain and be buffetted by tropical-storm-strength winds. At least 1,500 tourists had evacuated the islands by Sunday afternoon.
"The airports have been insane. People have been trying to get off the island as soon as they can," Tracy Giacomantonio, a 23-year-old resident of Cape Breton who is in the Caymans, told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
She considered leaving, but one airline was asking $2,000 for a one-way ticket. She missed an Air Canada flight, but the island seems well-prepared, Giacomantonio said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Dean could strengthen to a rare Category 5 hurricane on Monday.
Residents of Belize, Mexicans living on the Yucatan Peninsula and Texans living near the Gulf of Mexico were also taking heed as forecasters predicted the storm would head their way.
Tourist hotspots like Mexico's Cancun quickly cleared out as vacationers rushed to the airport trying to escape before the storm hit as expected late Monday or early Tuesday. Residents and shop owners did what they could to protect their properties from damage by boarding up windows.
In Texas, precautionary measures were already being put into place, said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. U.S. President George Bush signed a pre-landfall emergency declaration for Texas, allowing federal supplies and equipment to be moved into the region immediately.
Fears of hurricane Dean cut short the space shuttle Endeavour's mission. NASA wanted to bring the shuttle home by Tuesday in case Mission Control in Houston got shut down by the storm.
However, current projections indicate that Dean will land in Mexico somewhere between the coastal towns of Veracruz and Tampico and will not strike Texas.
Tropical Storm Erin
Many Texans were still reeling from Tropical Storm Erin that hit the region last week. In its wake, it left one whale dead with her baby clinging to life. They washed up on a Galveston beach. The dwarf sperm whale, weighing just 22 kilograms, is now being cared for by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility nearby.
Oklahoma, just to the north of Texas, was inundated Sunday by remnants of Erin. In Oklahoma City, there were reports of floods, black-outs and even a fatality. One woman drowned in her flooded basement and a man remained missing after his car was washed off the road, local and state officials said.
The roof of an Oklahoma nursing home also collapsed because of the gushing rain, but no injuries were reported.
With a report from CTV's Todd Battis and files from the Associated Press
