MEXICO:Hurricane Dean ripped into Mexico's Gulf coast yesterday with screaming winds and torrential rain that flooded towns, forced thousands into shelters and worried world oil markets, writes Tomas Bravoin Poza Rica, Mexico.
Large trees felled by wind were blocking main roads in the oil town of Poza Rica as Dean, packing winds of up to 160km/h (100mph), made landfall in Mexico for the second time.
"It's spectacular, it's very powerful," said hotel manager Felipe Torres.
The storm had pounded Mayan villages and beach resorts in a run across the Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday and then passed through the Campeche Sound where the vast majority of Mexico's crude for export to the United States is produced.
Mexico's state oil monopoly Pemex was meeting to assess damage.
No one was reported dead from Dean's two-day rampage in Mexico despite howling winds that put it in the fiercest category 5 level of hurricanes. It was not expected to threaten the US coastline.
Gusts badly damaged a car showroom in Poza Rica, in the eastern state of Veracruz, and garbage lay strewn on the streets. The town is home to oil storage facilities and energy pipelines, although it is not a major producing area.
Dean lost strength soon after landing near Poza Rica and was downgraded to category 1 but its rains fell in Mexico City more than 200km away.
Rains also battered the old city of Veracruz, a major Gulf port with a tropical feel and often compared to Cuba's Havana.
"There has been panic buying of food in supermarkets," said Gabriela Navarrete (35), who runs a bar in the city, near where Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519 on his way to conquer the Aztec empire.
Dean hammered Mexico's Caribbean resort of Tulum and swallowed sand from the famous beach at Cancun on Tuesday after killing 12 people in Haiti, Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean.
Mexico is one of the top three suppliers of US crude imports and Pemex evacuated more than 18,000 oil workers, shut down 2.65 million barrels per day of production - slightly more than Venezuela's total output - and closed ports as Dean approached.
Pemex said it was sending teams out into the Gulf to check on possible damage to evacuated platforms.
"They'll be able to go once the rains pass, when it'll be possible to navigate and fly," spokeswoman Martha Avelar said.
Dean was the first hurricane in the Atlantic basin to strike land as a category 5 since hurricane Andrew in 1992. Hurricane Andrew was the most destructive American hurricane on record.
Insured losses from Dean were likely to reach up to $400 million in Mexico, said AIR Worldwide Corp, risk modelling consultants.