Hurricane Dean, a category 4 storm that is the first of the season, on Sunday afternoon reached Jamaica as it travelled through the Caribbean on a path set for Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, according to DPA. "The first effects are being registered," a member of the Jamaican disaster-response services was reported as saying. Wind speeds were reported to have picked up significantly in western parts of the island and heavy rainfall was recorded. Up to 1,500 people had already been evacuated to pre-prepared emergency shelters. The storm was expected to hit the island at full strength as the afternoon progressed. Although meteorologists earlier said Dean had abated slightly, winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour were still being registered. The edge of the storm had on Saturday began dropping heavy rains on Haiti and the Dominican Republic as floods and mudslides were expected, while meteorologists projected its path to hit the mainland at Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Three deaths were reported in the Lesser Antilles, where the first effects of the hurricane were felt with high waves and winds up of to 240 kilometres per hour on the islands of Santa Lucia, Martinique and Dominica. The storm was moving in a north-westerly direction at a rate of about 30 kilometres per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center. Mexico's federal government declared a state of emergency Saturday for 106 municipalities of the Yucatan, including the famed tourist resorts of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum y Cozumel. Planeloads packed with tourists left the Cancun International Airport as part of an overall evacuation plan for 80,000 tourists vacationing in the peninsular state of Quintana Roo. Authorities asked travel agents to cancel arrival plans of additional tourists under the emergency passed. As many as 60,000 people had been expected to arrive in the state's vacation spots this weekend. "Dean" was expected to hit the mainland on Monday or early Tuesday morning with winds as strong as Category 5, the highest rating of severity.
