KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaicans headed inland and tourists fled the country as a large and powerful Hurricane Dean appeared poised to make a direct hit on the island after a deadly and destructive march across the eastern Caribbean.
Jamaica converted schools, churches and the indoor national sports arena into shelters and authorities urged people to take cover from a storm that could rake the country with winds of 230 kph and dump up to 50 cm of rain.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the first hurricane of the Atlantic season was projected to reach the most dangerous hurricane classification, Category 5, with winds of 255 kph before crashing into the Mexican coastline near Cancun this evening or tomorrow. The Mexican mainland or Texas could be hit later.
The storm has already caused at least six deaths in the Caribbean.
Dean rolled through the sea south of Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic - where heavy rain and surging seas caused flooding on Saturday in coastal areas.
Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said the country was confronting a national emergency and urged people in flood-prone areas to head for shelter.
"Do not wait for the last minute to make the decision to move from where you are," Simpson Miller said. "Decide now and begin to make arrangements to leave now."
Thousands of alarmed tourists were not waiting. They jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean's path.
Jamaica's airports were closed late on Saturday, and at 6 pm, government officials ordered all businesses shuttered until tomorrow.
In Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which was also in the path of the storm, fear gripped many islanders and tourists alike.
People jammed supermarkets and hardware stores in Kingston to stock up on canned food, bottled water, flashlights, batteries, lamps and plywood. In malls in the Jamaican capital, storeowners hammered plywood over windows.
Farther west, the low-lying Cayman Islands are expected to take a direct hit today.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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