The following is an excerpt from the Associated Press:

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.

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 and strengthen to Category 4 status, with winds between 131 and 155 mph, before clipping Yucatan two days later. The State Department was preparing to authorize some U.S. diplomats on Jamaica to leave before the storm.

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.

Salud!–CancunCanuck