Mexico Braces for Hurricane Dean As Battered Jamaica Declares State of Emergency

Mexico's Yucatan peninsula braced for Hurricane Dean's arrival last night as the storm barreled through the Caribbean, gathering strength and leaving a trail of destruction. The eye of the hurricane was expected to hit Mexico's eastern coastline with 150mph winds early today, prompting an exodus of tens of thousands of tourists who swamped airports to catch the last flights out before planes were grounded.

The national oil company ordered the partial evacuation of some 13,000 workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, sending jitters through the markets. However, oil prices dropped in the expectation that major installations would escape relatively unscathed.

The category 4 hurricane battered Jamaica on Sunday and early yesterday, ripping off rooftops and triggering floods, before brushing the Cayman islands with wind and rain and heading west towards the mainland. There were fears it would swell into a category 5, the most powerful, and visit fresh devastation on a part of Mexico still recovering from Hurricane Wilma two years ago.

Cancún, on the peninsula's north-eastern tip, was eerily quiet yesterday as workers boarded up windows. Locals did the same to their less solid houses in poorer residential districts. The first strong gusts were expected shortly after nightfall.

Authorities said most of the estimated 100,000 tourists in the area had been evacuated by yesterday. Quintana Roo state governor Felix Gonzalez said there would be enough room in shelters for all the tourists left behind as well as residents.

Some tourists slept in the airport over the weekend to try to catch a flight before runways were closed. The airport was already shut to incoming flights. Low-lying islands off the coast such as Isla Mujeres were evacuated over the weekend.

Dean has changed course several times in the last few days but by yesterday experts predicted it would avoid Cancún and hit land further south below the city of Tulum. This part of the coast is less built up but includes an important nature reserve called Sian Ka'an. There are also some newer resorts such as Majahual which have grown in popularity since Wilma trashed Cancún's hotels and stripped away much of its famous white beaches. Estimated damage reached $3bn.

While the ghost of Wilma looms large, there was some hope to be had from the speed at which Dean was approaching. This should mean the storm spends less time over land - unlike Wilma, which almost parked over Cancún as it moved at the pace of a human stroll. Emily, an equally strong storm in the same year, passed over the peninsula doing little damage because it moved fast.

Jamaica escaped the direct hit which had been feared but the storm still caused widespread destruction while passing about 40 miles south of the island on Sunday night. Powerful wind and rain blew off rooftops, uprooted mango and coconut trees, toppled power lines and unleashed mudslides and floods in several towns and cities, including the capital Kingston.

Some 1,000 shelters were set up but initially only a few dozen were occupied because people preferred to stay home and guard their property from looters. As the hurricane swelled in intensity thousands heeded the government's call and made their way to the shelters.

"It's very, very loud, the wind is roaring and shrieking," Rhian Holder, from Christian Aid, told the BBC. "The trees are breaking, you're hearing branches snapping, you're hearing thuds, things falling, you're not sure what it is."

Swollen rivers burst their banks and flooded roads and railway lines. Several areas reported a collapse in mobile phone networks, damage to water supplies and crumbled roads, according to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. A prison block roof was blown off but no inmates escaped.

"We got a good beating," said Kathy Barrett of Radio Jamaica.

At least one man was missing after trees toppled into his house but no deaths were immediately confirmed in Jamaica. Other parts of the Caribbean which were hit over the weekend reported nine deaths, including a boy swept out to sea by giant waves in the Dominican Republic.

Jamaica's prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, declared a month-long state of emergency in anticipation of insecurity. "During and after natural disasters there have been widespread attempts at looting and other threats to public safety," her office said in a statement. Police fought a gunbattle with looters in the parish of Clarendon but no casualties were reported. In a separate incident police said they shot and wounded two men caught trying to break into a business. A curfew was due to remain in effect until last night. Parliamentary elections scheduled for August 27 may be delayed, the government said.

The hurricane's path remained unpredictable but officials in southern Texas, with federal government support, opened emergency operations centers.