Hurricane Dean hits Mexico, no deaths

Hurricane Dean slammed into Mexico's Caribbean coast yesterday, flooding streets, toppling trees in beach resorts and blowing the roofs off houses, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

Water surged down a main street at thigh level in Chetumal, a city of about 150,000 people near where Dean made landfall.

Broken trees and street lights lay strewn around.

After killing 11 people on its rampage through the Caribbean, Dean was a Category 5 hurricane - the strongest possible - when it tore into Mexico, landing around the cruise ship port of Costa Maya, near the border with Belize.

The storm then lost power over land and was downgraded to a Category 2, although forecasters warned that roaring winds and rains were still a threat as it moved toward Mexican oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday evening.

Tourist resorts like Playa del Carmen and Cancun, devastated by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, appeared to escape major damage as Dean moved quickly across the Yucatan Peninsula.

"No human losses have been reported until now," President Felipe Calderon said.

Litter and leaves were scattered on the streets in Playa del Carmen, where tired tourists emerged at first light after an uncomfortable night in a hotel converted to a shelter for 400 people.

"I didn't sleep, I had backache," said Italian tourist Massimiani Luca, 31. "There were nine of us in this room, eight in that room," he said.

The government of Quintana Roo state, which took the hit from Dean head on, said it was unaware of any deaths.

Tens of thousands of tourists fled Cancun over the weekend before Dean crashed into the area, famous for white beaches, crystal clear waters and Mayan ruins like Chichen Itza.

Chetumal was left without power when the hurricane's sustained winds of 265 kph and gusts of up to 320 kph knocked over dozens of power poles and trees. The aluminium roofs of some houses were blown off.

Dean swiped Jamaica at the weekend with fierce winds and pelting rain, killing two people and taking the storm death toll to eleven. Haiti was worst hit with four people dead.

Dean is likely to cost insurers up to $1.5 billion with the majority of claims coming from damage caused in Jamaica, disaster-modelling firm Risk Management Solution said.

The storm is likely to continue weakening over land but should still be a hurricane when it heads out into the oil-producing Campeche Sound in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday night, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Mexico's state oil company has closed and evacuated 407 oil and gas wells, meaning lost production of 2.65 million barrels of crude per day.

Heavy rain drenched Belize, a former British colony that is home to some 250,000 people and a famous barrier reef. Sugar canes fields were flattened in the north of the country.