Hurricane Dean slows on Yucatan Peninsula

August 21, 2007

Mexico - Hurricane Dean has weakened to a Category 1 storm but still knocked down trees and flooded streets on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Dean charged ashore before dawn as a monster Category 5 storm but rapidly lost strength as it traversed the peninsula.

The hurricane was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it approached the Bay of Campeche with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

Downed power lines and damaged buildings were reported in Mexico and northern Belize, but no casualties.

Streets were flooded outside a hotel in Chetumal, just south of where Dean's center made landfall around 4:30 a.m. local time with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph, according to the hurricane center.

Two hotel workers tried to clear a clogged street drain with a garden rake in an effort to relieve the flooded streets.

The storm's eye passed just south of the resort areas of Cozumel and Cancun, striking a rural and sparsely populated area near Chetumal, the capital of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

The storm is expected to re-emerge in the Gulf of Mexico, then strengthen again and hit central Mexico on Wednesday.