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| Rescue teams prepare to enter a collapsed building in Pisco. |
CHETUMAL, Mexico - Hurricane Dean has already claimed the lives of more than a dozen people, even though it has been downgraded from a category 5 storm to a category 2.
Dean made landfall near the town of Costa Maya on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula yesterday. The area, which is heavily populated by tourists this time of year, was evacuated and residents sought higher ground.
OBI disaster relief teams, accompanied by a government official, are en route to Chetumal, a city on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, to assess the damage and begin staging relief efforts for victims.
"Early reports indicate that poor communities in the area have suffered with flimsy homes destroyed," said OBI's David Darg who is directing relief efforts in the field.
Currently, the hurricane is moving in a north-west direction. Forecasters warn that Dean could regain power via the warm Gulf of Mexico waters as it heads toward northern Mexico.
There have been 28 Atlantic hurricanes that have reached the intensity of category five since record keeping started in 1886. Dean was the first such storm to hit the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
ABC News contributed to this report.
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