MEXICO/CANADA: Giant Hurricane Dean threatens Mexico coast, Shelters packed in Chetumal

Hurricane Dean, a huge Category 5 storm with heavy rain and howling winds lashed Mexico on Tuesday (August 21). Category 5 is the strongest type of hurricane and can cause widespread damage. Thousands of residents were forced to flee Chetumal, a city on the east coast of Yucatan Peninsula. In the communities of San Andres and Felipe Carrillo Puerto in the state of Quintana Roo however, local residents refused to leave their homes. Indigenous communities will try and ride out the storm. They have seen many before and believe that only God will determine how or when they will die. Eighty-two-year-old Celestina Lopez is no stranger to hurricanes. "I've seen two, three, four with this one and I haven't died yet. Only God knows when or how I'll die," Lopez said. Others headed out for the shelters on buses. The Red Cross delivered food and supplies to communities in the Quintana Roo state. Meanwhile, Mexican President Felipe Calderon decided to cut short a visit to Canada, where he was meeting U.S. President George W. Bush and Canada's prime minister, and return to Mexico because of the threatening hurricane. "I have decided to return to Mexico as soon as possible once we have the trilateral meeting to which we have been summoned tomorrow, to also suspend my tour and my visit to Canada to attend personally to civil protections in case of disasters. My purpose is to fly towards the Peninsula of Yucatan, probably up to Chetumal or Merida as soon as the weather in that area allows me to," Calderon said. As night fell, people in Chetumal, warned about getting a direct hit from Hurricane Dean, took refuge in shelters. As military personnel handed out blankets to people who will ride out the hurricane in the shelters, a local resident, Elena Poch, explained why she decided on fleeing her home and taking refuge in the shelter. "That's what they say, that it's a very strong hurricane, I'm scared and that's why I'm here, because I was warned," she said. A school was turned into a make-shift refuge packed with displaced adults and children. It will remain open after the hurricane passes, until people are able to return home. "The majority of those who came, left their homes and arrived here, that's why this was turned into a shelter and when the hurricane blows over people will be able to take refuge here until they are able to return home," the shelter co-ordinator, Dalia Martinez, told Reuters. Dean, which has killed 11 people so far on its path through the Caribbean, packed howling winds of around 160 mph (256 kph), as it bore down on the Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said.

ITN Source | August 21, 2007

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