Dean could bring as much as 50cm of rain on Jamaica and warned
waves could surge 2-3m above normal tide levels, the US National
Hurricane Centre said.
Hurricane Dean, the first powerful storm of the Atlantic season,
landed on southern coast of Jamaica on Sunday and hit its capital
Kingston after it pounded Caribbean islands and coastal areas on
Saturday.
Packing winds of to 230km/h, the Category 4 storm cut the power
and blocked roads by fallen trees and floods in the eastern parts
of the island.
Dean could bring as much as 50cm of rain on Jamaica and warned
waves could surge 2-3m above normal tide levels, the US National
Hurricane Centre said.??
The Jamaican government has been trying to convince people
refusing to leave their homes to evacuate the most vulnerable areas
along the southern coast and go the shelters opened up by the
government.
"Preparations to protect life and property in Jamaica should
already have been completed. Preparations in the Cayman Islands
should be rushed to completion," the centre's latest hurricane
report said.
The center forcasted that Dean could become a Category 5 storm,
the highest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, in two days with
winds of more than 250kph near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
At least eight deaths in southern US state of Texas were blamed
on tropical storm Erin on Thursday, and six deaths were confirmed
when Dean run through Caribbean on Saturday.
(Xinhua News Agency via agencies August 20, 2007)
