8.22.2007 12:00 AM

Hurricane Dean Grows To Category 2 Strength

Storm, With 100 MPH Winds, Nears Second Landfall In Mexico

Hurricane Dean, which has already cost insurers as much as $1.5 billion on its march across the Caribbean, has grown back into a Category 2 storm as it nears its second landfall in Mexico, according to the latest report from the National Hurricane Center.

It lead to several deaths in the Caribbean, though its highly feared landfall as a Category 5 behemoth in the Yucatan peninsula yesterday proved relatively mild, in great part because the storm hit thinly populated areas of jungle. It disrupted approximately 3% of the world's oil supply as production was suspended on Mexican oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

No significant damage has been reported from that oil infrastructure. Dean is expected to make its second landfall today, with 100 mph sustained winds. Hurricane-force winds extend 70 miles from the storm's center, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward some 200 miles. The hurricane remains strong enough to pose "life-threatening" hazards to the residents of Mexico where it will make landfall.

Read The Storm Pundit
Hurricane Dean 1 Of 10 Most Intense Atlantic Hurricanes Ever Recorded
A Little Luck With Hurricane Dean?
Category 5? Hurricane Dean And Gilbert of 1988
Nothing But Land to Stop Hurricane Dean ... or Supertyphoon Sepat
Farewell Hurricane Flossie -- Hello Tropical Storm Dean
Hurricane Flossie: The Un-Forecastable
Hurricane Forecasts, Fulminations And Flossie
2007 Hurricane Season: Don't Get Too Comfortable

Your Photos of Hurricane Dean
Hurricane Dean: Through a Fisheye Lens
Hurricane Dean: Dominican Republic
Hurricane Dean: Palm Trees and Waves
Hurricane Dean: Watching the Waves
Hurricane Dean: Palm Trees in The Dominican Republic
Hurricane Dean: Folded Palm
Hurricane Dean: Hits Martinique

Find this article at: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/5640