The first Hurricane of the 2007 season has reached a monster Category 4 and threatens to match the devestating storms of the record-breaking 2005 season.
After 145MPH winds, three deaths in the Lesser Antilles and wrecked infrastructure across the eastern Islands already in its wake nervous forecasters expect Hurricane Dean to go into "hyper-drive" over the hotter Caribbean waters surrounding Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico.
Hurricane forecasters at Accuweather.com describe the storm as a "dangerous hurricane just shy of reaching Category 5 strength."
Hurricane Dean is the most intense storm since the devestation of the 2005 season, which saw a record number of hurricanes, and may take a track similar to Hurricane Wilma in its initial stages
Wilma formed in the Carribean as the most intense hurricane ever and then mauled the Yucatán peninsular in October 2005,. This cost the Mexican economy over US$7bn and damaged the tourist center around Cancun.
The Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which contains the tourist resort of Cancun, is again under a state of emergency.
Hurricane Dean’s likely track also has lead to a price spike in the oil futures market, as speculators fear a repeat of refining capacity problems that plagued 2005 .
While the Caribbean region is most immediately threatened American policymakers now fear that Hurricane Dean may swing northwards toward the United States.
Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco, whose state in 2005 suffered Hurricane Katrina, declared a state of emergency soon after Dean became a Category 4 Hurricane on August 17.
Louisiana, home to New Orleans, is on the northern edge of the cone of probability of Dean’s likely route.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a 2005 victim to Rita is closer to danger and, while still drying out after Tropical Storm Erin, has put his state on full-alert for a strong hurricane and flash-floods.
On Saturday morning Dean lies in the east Caribbean south of the Dominican Republic making westward progress at around 21MPH.
Forecasters expect the worse of Hurricane Dean to hit Jamaica on Sunday. Tourists have been ordered into shelter and the Monday 2007 general election may be postponed. Hispaniola, Dominican Republic and Haita are braced for up to 12cm of rain and high winds.
The National Hurricane Center noted the formation of a tropical depression on August 13 when it was 520 miles south-west of the Cape-Verde Islands.
After tearing through the Saint Lucia channel as a Category 2 hurricane, late August 17 the National Hurricane Center upgraded Dean to a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
On August 14 Tropical Storm Dean becae the fourth named storm of the 2007 season and two days later on August 16 reached hurricane strength on the Caribbean periphery.
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