.bmp)
.bmp)
CASTRIES,St. Lucia-Hurricane Dean strengthened into a Category 3 storm and tore through the eastern Caribbean on Friday, ripping the roofs from a hospital and homes, and flooding buildings with rain and seawater. A 62-year-old man drowned-the storm's first death.With 125 mph winds, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season was expected to gain power over the warm waters of the Caribbean, hit Jamaica on Sunday and climb to Category 4 status before clipping Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.It was projected to steer into the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday, threatening the U.S.-Mexico border area.Residents on the French island of Martinique reported landslides and said scores of people were left homeless."The sea swelled, crossed the road and invaded homes," said a woman in southern Martinique who identified herself as Lucie in a call to local radio.On St. Lucia, a former British colony just south of Martinique, Dean blew the corrugated metal roof off the pediatric ward at Victoria Hospital in Castries, the capital, but patients already were evacuated and no injuries were reported, said acting hospital director Hubert Emmanuel.Buildings across this eastern Caribbean island lost their roofs, often made of corrugated metal. With utility poles down, the power company turned off electricity on the island to prevent electrocutions."We don't have a roof...everything is exposed. We tried to save what we could," said Josephine Marcelus in Morne Rouge, a town in northern Martinique."We sealed ourselves in one room, praying that the hurricane stops blowing over Martinique."St. Lucia state radio reported the capital was flooded and cluttered with wind-blown debris. Boulders from a sea wall were shoved onto roads by the force of storm surges. A boat sat in the road, lifted from the sea by the storm.A 62-year-old man was swept away in a rain-swollen river while attempting to retrieve a cow, in the storm's first death, police said.The eye of Dean passed between St. Lucia and the French island of Martinique, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.At 1:45 p.m. EDT, Dean was centered about 175 miles west of Martinique and was moving west at about 22 mph.Dominica, which lies north of Martinique, had minor flooding, a few downed fences and trees and battered banana crops-one of the island's main exports-but it appeared Dean had not caused much damage."I did not sleep at all last night and was a little worried that the roof of my house would be blown off with all that wind,"one Roseau resident, Gwenie Moses, said as she checked her small tin-roofed house for damage."Thank God it did not."At Ross University School of Medicine on Dominica, about 80 medical students, mostly from the U.S., and 20 staff and faculty members spent the night watching movies, playing games or sleeping on the floor between desks in a concrete building that was converted into a shelter.The night before, the university and the U.S. Embassy worked with American Airlines to evacuate students. Some flew out on private charter flights when space ran out. But it turned out an evacuation was unnecessary: Dean caused no damage to the campus.In Martinique's Epinay district, emergency officials cleared debris off roads to try to get to a family whose roof blew off. Some roads were impassible due to blown-over billboards and other debris."I saw the roof of a municipal building fly off. This is a very hard thing to experience right now. The wind is something impressive,"said Louis Joseph Manscour, deputy mayor of Trinite, Martinique.In Washington, the State Department was preparing to announce it would allow some U.S. diplomats in Jamaica to leave the island to avoid the storm.The so-called "authorized departure" program would allow non-essential staff at the Kingston embassy and Montego Bay consulate to leave at government expense if they wish, officials said.It was too early to tell if the storm would hit the US.Texas was already dealing with the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, which dropped up to 7 inches of rain in parts of San Antonio and Houston. Officials throughout central and southern Texas braced for 10 inches to 15 inches by Friday morning.At least four people died Thursday in Erin's thunderstorms."It's so far out, but it's not too early to start preparing," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.Forecasters said it appeared Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands would be spared.Dean could get closer to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. As it approaches Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Central America on Tuesday it could be an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, the hurricane center said.But forecasters always warn that their intensity predictions can be inaccurate that far in advance.
Como en los dias de Noe...
