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Aug. 17: With Hurricane Dean churning across the Atlantic, just how prepared is the city of New Orleans? WDSU's Travers Mackel reports.
CASTRIES, St. Lucia - Hurricane Dean was expected to strengthen into an extremely powerful Category 5 storm as it passed Jamaica and neared Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Friday.
Category 5 hurricanes are the strongest and potentially most destructive tropical storms on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity with top sustained winds in excess of 155 miles per hour.
Dean, the Atlantic season's first hurricane, built to a powerful Category 4 storm Friday night after crossing over the warm waters of the Caribbean. Forecasters warned winds could surpass 150 mph before steering next week into the Gulf of Mexico, with its 4,000 oil and gas platforms.
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Dean could threaten the United States by Wednesday, forecasters said, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office suggested people get ready.
On tiny St. Lucia, fierce winds tore corrugated metal roofs from dozens of houses and a hospital's pediatric ward, whose patients had been evacuated hours earlier. Police said a 62-year-old man drowned when he tried to retrieve a cow from a rain-swollen river.
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The government on Dominica reported that a woman and her 7-year-old son died when a hillside soaked by Dean's rains gave way and crushed the house where they were sleeping.
French authorities on the nearby island of Martinique said a 90-year-old man had died of a heart attack during the storm but it was unclear whether it was a factor.
Dean was forecast to brush the southern coast of Haiti late Saturday, then hit Jamaica on Sunday before clipping Yucatan two days later. In Washington, the State Department said it would allow some U.S. diplomats in Jamaica to leave the island to avoid the storm.
Jamaican officials said Kingston's national arena will serve as one of several shelters, and they drafted a plan to move inmates at two maximum security prisons if needed. Evacuation plans, especially for the flood-prone eastern region, were finalized, said Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
About a dozen cruise ships were altering their itineraries to avoid the hurricane and its aftermath, according to cruisecritic.com, a Web site devoted to cruise travel information.
On Yucatan, Mexican authorities broadcast radio alerts, including in the Yucatec Maya language, warning people to "be prepared." Some people boarded up windows and stocked up on supplies, while officials prepared some 570 schools, gymnasiums and public buildings as shelters.
People on Martinique, St. Lucia and Dominica mostly stayed indoors Friday while the hurricane swept the islands with heavy rain and wind. People who ventured out said the islands seemed to have escaped serious 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. Thank God it did not," Gwenie Moses said Friday as she checked her small tin-roofed house in Dominica's capital, Roseau.
On St. Lucia, the storm washed boulders from the sea onto downtown streets and knocked down trees. The power company shut off electricity across the island to prevent people from being electrocuted by wires broken by falling trees and power poles.
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.
Hurricane Dean forecast update at 8 a.m. (EDT) update on August 18, 2007, courtesy of NOAA. 
The  in Miami is calling Hurricane Dean "extremely dangerous," saying that the storm is gaining strength and will likely become a  storm. The storm's winds are currently clocked at 150 mph, classifying it as a . A Category 5 hurricane means the storm has winds of over 155 mph and has the potential to cause "catastrophic" damage. 

Dean is currently moving through the eastern Caribbean, and is heading towards the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The storm is expected to hit Jamaica on Sunday, and then gain even more power as it strikes Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Monday.

Dean could hit the mainland of the United States on Wednesday. Therefore, officials in Texas and Louisiana are currently making major preparations.

, the Governor of Texas, said the hurricane is an "imminent threat," saying the state is preparing for its arrival. Task forces have been put on alert, and supply trucks and other resources are in position.

Governor  of Louisiana declared a state of emergency yesterday so local governments can move forward with emergency plans if necessary. However, forecasters say there is little chance of Dean moving toward Louisiana. Instead, the storm is expected to threaten Mexico or Texas.

A  has been issued for Haiti from the Haiti/Dominican Republic border to .  has opened all shelters and  has declared a "state of alert" in preparation for the storm. 

A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the U.S. and  and Puerto Rico.

At 5 a.m. EDT, the center of Hurricane Dean was about 240 miles south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 660 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and was moving west at 14 mph. However, the storm is expected to pick up speed today.

Hurricane Dean could force NASA to cut short 's flight. Mission management team chairman Leroy Cain said, "We'd really like to protect an option to be able to end the mission on Tuesday."

The ''Associated Press'' reports several deaths and significant damage on the islands of St. Lucia,  and Martinique.