Lightning streaks across Cancun's night sky during a thunderstorm August 19, 2007. Hurricane Dean is due to make landfall on the Yucatan peninsula in about two days' time. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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    MEXICO CITY, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican authorities on Monday declared a red alert, the nation's highest danger rating, in the eastern Mexico state of Quintana Roo, on Mexico's Caribbean coast, due to Hurricane Dean which is set to make landfall within hours.

    The state's governor, Felix Gonzalez Cato, told a Monday press conference municipalities most affected are Othon P. Blanco, Jose Maria Morelos, Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Solidaridad, location of Mexican tourist area Playa del Carmen.

    Cancun, a popular tourist spot in Mexico which was hit by a hurricane in 2006, is not on the red alert list this year. Other tourist areas that are not on the list are Cozumel and Mujeres Islands, and the town of Lazaro Cardenas.

    Dean is the first hurricane of the 2007 season. Mexico's National Civil Protection Service said on Monday that it is currently 560 kilometers south-south east of Cozumel and 590 southeast of Cancun.

    Dean might well make land fall as a category-five hurricane, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, with more than 249 kph, the body said.

    Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN) that Dean is heading south, and could hit somewhere between Tulum Chetumal, Quintana Roo's state capital.  

    Hurricane haunted, Texas gets ready for Dean

    BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Haunted by hurricanes past, officials in Erin-soaked Texas were taking no chances Sunday, stockpiling gasoline, buses and airplanes to get residents out of harm's way -- Hurricane Dean -- in a hurry.

    Authorities handed out sandbags, opened emergency operations centers and evacuated inmates in a region still sodden from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, which caused severe flooding Sunday and at least nine deaths from Texas to Minnesota.

    C American, Caribbean nations declare state of emergency as hurricane Dean looms

    MEXICO CITY, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Many Central American and Caribbean nations declared a state of emergency Sunday on the imminent arrival of hurricane Dean, Mexican press reported.

    It is forecasted that the category-4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale hurricane Dean would hit Jamaica island Sunday, Mexico Monday afternoon or early Tuesday, and Guatemala and other Central American countries should also prepare for its effects. 

    Mexican states brace for monster hurricane' arrival

    MEXICO CITY, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The two eastern coastal Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan have been put on high alert for hurricane Dean which is expected to arrive anytime between Monday afternoon and early Tuesday.

    The hurricane, the first in the Atlantic ocean season, has killed four people in the Caribbean, one in Santa Lucia and three in the Dominican Republic.