Hurricane Dean blows into Caribbean, targets Gulf

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean grew into a major storm with 125 mph (200 kph) winds on Friday after it smashed into the Caribbean islands, knocking out power and setting off landslides before heading toward the oil and gas rigs of the Gulf of Mexico.

Dean strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane capable of widespread destruction after it roared through the narrow channel between the Lesser Antilles islands of St. Lucia and Martinique, crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the warm Caribbean Sea.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Dean would grow to a Category 4 storm, the second-highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with 150 mph (240 kph) winds as it races toward the Gulf, home to a third of U.S. domestic crude oil and 15 percent of natural gas production.

Energy markets have been skittish about hurricanes since powerful storms in 2004 and 2005, including Ivan, Katrina and Rita, disrupted oil and gas production. Transocean, Royal Dutch Shell, Murphy Oil and other companies pulled dozens of workers from offshore rigs.

Dean, the first hurricane of what is expected to be an above-average Atlantic season, lifted the roof off the pediatric wing at Victoria Hospital in St. Lucia's capital, Castries, but patients had already been moved, officials said.

Heraldine Rock, an ex-government minister in the former British colony of 170,000 people, said the storm ripped roofs off houses and damaged at least two banana plantations.

"In one village, telephone and power lines are down, they're strewn all over the road, trees are uprooted and are blocking the roads," she said. "In another village, a landslide has been reported, cutting off any access to the airport."

Deputy Prime Minister Leonard Montoute said at least two people were injured when a tree fell on their house.