Dean hits Mexico a second time
POSTED: Aug. 22, 2007
By Sarah Pate
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The projected path of Hurricane Dean.
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CHETUMAL, Mexico - After making landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 5 storm earlier this week, Hurricane Dean hit central Mexico today as a Category 2 storm with strong winds and torrential rains.
Operation Blessing's disaster relief team in Chetumal is reporting "incredible devastation."
"Most of the community looks like a war-ravaged scene that has suffered intense bombing," said David Darg, OBI's field director who is on the ground coordinating relief efforts. "Thousands of homes in outlying areas have lost their roofs and are open to the weather."
As teams continue to assess the storm's damage, OBI is supplying heavy plastic sheeting by the truckload to some 300 families to help provide emergency shelter and protect their already damaged homes from more torrential rains.
OBI is also working with local officials to transport additional aid.
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.
Staff writer Staci Dennis and ABC News contributed to this report.
How You Can Help
Be a part of OBI's ongoing disaster relief efforts by making an online donation. With your support, OBI can continue to bring emergency food, water and medical care to these hurricane victims and more who are caught in the midst of disaster.
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