Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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August 23, 2007

US Forecasters Downgrade Dean to Tropical Storm
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=18E8816:A6F02AD83191E160760F04FF86D17AF09574F7DCC14957C0 Storm has been
weakening ever since it came ashore Wednesday, near city of Veracruz,
Mexico The U.S. National Hurricane Center has downgraded tropical
storm Dean to a tropical depression.







Local residents walk among branches knocked down by the strong winds
of Hurricane Dean in Veracruz, 22 Aug 2007The storm has been weakening
ever since it came ashore Wednesday near the city of Veracruz,
carrying winds of 140 kilometers per hour. It made landfall as a
Category 2 hurricane on the five-point scale that measures a
hurricane's power and potential destructiveness.

Forecasters say the winds of Dean have decreased to just 55 kilometers
an hour, and expect it to dissipate later Thursday over the mountains
of central Mexico. But the storm is still expected to produce anywhere
from 12 to 25 centimeters of rain, triggering life-threatening flash
floods and mudslides.

Dean first struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Tuesday as a Category 5
hurricane, with winds of up to 265 kilometers an hour.

Dean was the strongest Atlantic storm to hit land since 1988.

Mexican officials said they had evacuated thousands of residents from
coastal areas to schools, churches and other buildings, while tens of
thousands of oil workers also left the region.

Dean passed to the south of the popular resort destinations of Cancun
and Cozumel, sparing that area from the worst wind and waves. The
storm slammed into the coast of Mexico and Belize after pounding the
Caribbean, where it is blamed for at least 18 deaths.

The U.S. Agency for International Development says it has provided
more than $500,000 to Jamaica for emergency needs, and the
Pan-American Health Organization is to receive $150,000 for aid
efforts.



Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.


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