Hurricane Dean, a category 4 hurricane, has claimed 9 lives as it sweeps by The Dominican Republic and Haiti toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Winds of 249km/h are expected along with 50cm of rain. The National Hurricane Centre in Miami forecasts that Hurrican Dean will hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and enter the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday (22 August) and is expected to hit central Mexico. It is concerned that heavy rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in parts of southern and central Mexico.
Forbes.com report forecasters saying Hurricane Dean is the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since record keeping began in the 1850s.
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NASA National Aeronautics
and Space Administration
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S118-E-07920 (18 Aug. 2007) --- Crewmembers on the Space Shuttle Endeavour captured this image around Noon CDT of Hurricane Dean in the Caribbean. At the time the shuttle and International Space Station passed overhead, the Category 4 storm was moving westerly at 17 mph nearing Jamaica carrying sustained winds of 150 mph.
The hurricane first hit land at 4.30am 22 August 2007 north of Chetumal with winds of 165mph (266 kph) and power outages occurred.
Jamaica began evacuating people on the weekend (18/19 August) to more than 1000 shelters.
Supermarkets have experienced frenzied buying of bottled water, tinned food and alternate light sources such as torches. Plywood covers shop windows.
There are queues for booking flights out of airports in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
The Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, halted campaigning for the August 27 election. The government has warned residents of Veracruz and other coastal towns to prepare for the hurricane.
The Veracruz area is prone to flooding. It has a nuclear plant that supplies power to much of northern Mexico. The plant has been shut down and secured fearing pylons carrying electricity could be affected in the high winds.
Reports indicate:
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Ancient Mayan ruins in the town of Tulum, south of Cancun, have survived while Tulum was battered.
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Reuters reported official stating a third of the hotels and beach cabins in Tulum were damaged.
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The government has suspended oil production near Campeche, Mexico's main oil production centre, approximately 2.5million barrels of oil per day and evacuated 20,000 workers from oil platforms in the area.
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Before the hurricane hit the Mexican government had deployed 2,000 troops to the area and a state of emergency was declared in Campeche.
As at 22 August 2007 CNN report that a hurricane warning remains in effect along Mexico's Gulf Coast from Campeche westward to Tampico and a tropical storm warning is in effect from north of Tampico to Bahia Algodones.
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Claim Solutions Pty Ltd
Insurance Policy
Country: - Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands
Policy Description: - Various
Insurer: - Various
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