Giant Hurricane Dean swipes at Mexico

By Manuel Carrillo

CHETUMAL, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean flooded streets and toppled trees across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday but it left famous Caribbean beach resorts mostly intact before taking aim at Gulf of Mexico oil platforms.

There were no early reports of deaths or serious damage in Mexico from the storm, a potentially disastrous Category 5 hurricane which lashed beach resorts on the "Mayan Riviera" where thousands of tourists had crammed into shelters.

"We escaped. It was very light," said Miguel Cruz, 29, a hotel receptionist in the resort of Playa del Carmen.

Water surged down a main street at thigh level in Chetumal, a city of about 150,000 people near where Dean made landfall. Broken trees and street lights lay strewn around.

Dean had killed 11 people elsewhere on its rampage through the Caribbean.

It passed quickly over the Yucatan and was downgraded to a Category 1 storm but forecasters warned that roaring winds and rains would likely pick up again as Dean headed toward Mexico's offshore oil platforms in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

State oil company Pemex has closed and evacuated more than 400 oil and gas wells, meaning lost production of 2.65 million barrels of crude per day.

President Felipe Calderon said no deaths were reported. Mexico's response to hurricanes has improved in recent years as emergency services regularly stage rehearsals and the population is well informed about disaster prevention.