Hurricane Dean has struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula near the border with Belize, bringing driving winds and lashing rain. Cancun and other tourist resorts were spared a direct hit as the storm came ashore at 0330 (0830 GMT) about 40 miles (65km) north-east of Chetumal.
The Category Five storm - the highest strength - is moving steadily west with winds of up to 160mph (255km/h).
It is pushing a large surge of water that could flood coastal communities.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Florida said the eye of the storm had made landfall near the town of Majahual.
thanks God everything in cancun is fine, just walked out with my dog and looks ok, the real damage is in chetumal which is about 5 hours from cancun, here we had much rain, and winds, but nothing damage at the moment, still the hurricane in th epeninsula, the mayan people will be really affected, and those are the poorest people in mexico, my prays for them and thanks again for all ur thoughts and prayers, you have been so lovely with me....love you all !!!!
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