Dean packing big punch

Aug 19 - The hurricane's expected to grow into a ferocious Category 5 storm as it passes Jamaica and nears Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Dean is still a Category four storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale but it's packing a big punch. It uprooted trees, knocked out power and peeled roofs off houses as it pounded the Caribbean islands of Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia with strong winds and driving rains.

Experts say Dean is on the verge of being upgraded to the highest Category 5, with top winds of more than 155 miles-per-hour (249 kilometres-per-hour). It's on course to skirt the Dominican Republic, then roar across Jamaica and the oil and gas rigs of the Gulf.

Reuters Stuart McDill reports.

Soundbites:

Bruce Bullock, Director, Maguire Energy Institute, Southern Methodist University

Sharron Corbet, homeowner Galveston, Texas