Hurricane Dean Heads For Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Tonight, the first hurricane of the season has turned into the worst kind of hurricane there is. Hurricane Dean is now a Category 5 killer. Take a look at the satellite imagery. That thing is as big across as the state of Texas. It is packing sustained winds right now of 160 miles an hour and it is barrelling right now towards one of the busiest vacation spots around. It's already done a lot of damage, hammering Jamaica, tearing homes apart, plunging tens of thousands of people into darkness. At least seven people have died across the Caribbean. And this thing is just getting started. We have got people up and down the Yucatan Peninsula tonight. Gary Tuchman is in Tulum. Harris Whitbeck is in Chetumal, where the eye is expected to come ashore. Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather Center. We will also hear from Jason Carroll, who is in Cancun. Also tonight, more breaking news, fresh outrage from the families of six missing miners in Utah over word that that, even though it's too risky to go back into the mine and find them, Murray Energy still plans to reenter the mine one day to mine more coal. We start, however, with Hurricane Dean, and CNN's Chad Myers, who is tracking the storm for us in the Weather Center. Chad, where is this thing?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is south of major resorts, Anderson, from Cancun to Cozumel to Playacar, all of the way to Xcaret and Escucha, well south of there. Now, you are still going to get some slamming winds. These outer bands could still bring winds 85 miles to 100 miles per hour here. But the most dangerous, the Category 5 part of this storm, is literally around the eye, only about 10 miles from the eye in any direction. And then it starts to taper off from there. The storm is moving in, moving right into Chetumal just a little bit to the north. Maybe the southern part of the eyewall will get to that town or city, 100,000 people in that city. But other than that, this is a biosphere in here. This is a wildlife preserve. Now, other than the animals, you couldn't pick a better place for a Category 5 to land, assuming you're trying to save people. Now, the animals will get out of there. They will be able to take care of themselves. And then it's going to go right across the Yucatan Peninsula and back into a very warm Bay of Campeche. That's going to allow it to regain strength again, even though it may go from a Category 5. And the forecast is for it to go to a Category 1. I'm not sure I'm buying that. I'm not sure, in 10 hours, this storm is going to go from 160 to 85. Maybe it does. But, if it doesn't, if it gets out here, Anderson, at 110 or 120, then it's just going to roll right toward Tampico, Mexico. Here are the numbers, if you're paying attention, 18.2, 85.1. The winds are 160. It's about 210 miles. Now, that was the -- that was the 8:00 advisory, so maybe a few closer miles than that, maybe 190 or 180, southeast of Chetumal. And that is going to continue in that direction. So, the people there in Chetumal are going to have one very long night. I am expecting landfall probably close to about I would say 5:00 a.m. local time. Now, this is a radar, a literal radar out of Cancun. You can begin to see the first outer bands. We're going to see our Gary Tuchman in Tulum, which is right there. We're going to see some of these bands into Cancun rather quickly, and then later on in the night, that's when these Category 5 winds are going to come right south of the Tulum area and south of all those areas that you know so well as Cancun and Cozumel will get missed. It will be a battering storm, but at least it will missed, the 150-mile-per-hour winds not going to hit Cozumel or Cancun.</s>COOPER: Now, Chad, we are also expecting an update at some point throughout this next hour, correct?</s>MYERS: Yes. There still have been airplanes in the storm, still trying to find big winds. And the biggest wind, check this out. I know this is a prop plane. And they fly prop planes into these storms because they're afraid that a jet may have a flame-out. They found a wind at flight level, Anderson, of 189 miles per hour. I can't flying -- I can't imagine flying through that and what the turbulence must feel there. We will have a new update for you as soon as that comes out, probably around 10:45.</s>COOPER: All right, Chad, thanks very much.</s>COOPER: I don't know if we can put those Jamaica pictures back up. We were just showing some of the impact this storm had on Jamaica. And it really missed hitting full force, which is certainly a good thing on that island, no deaths reported, which is truly something to be very thankful for. Chad is going to be back with us all night over this next hour. Let's head now to the Yucatan Peninsula. Gary Tuchman is standing by in Tulum, Mexico. Gary, you starting to get some rain?</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The rains have just started in the last hour, Anderson. And we are in Tulum. This is to the northern part of where the eye is going to be that Chad was just talking about. And that is actually the bad side of the hurricane because of the counterclockwise winds of the hurricane. So, they are battening down the hatches in this small town of 10,000 people. It is a very small town. We're in the downtown part of it right now, about three miles away from the Gulf of Mexico. And the Gulf of Mexico is where many tourists go, Cancun 80 miles to the north of me. But tourists come for a day trip or two days, because there are famous architectural ruins, Mayan ruins that are there, buildings that are more than 1,000 years old. And there's a lot of concern how they will fare with these 150-, 160-mile-per-hour possible winds. Right now, though, here in the town, most people -- and it's a very poor town, for the most part -- 10,000 people, like I said, living here -- but, for the most part, people are taking the preparations very seriously. They have boarded up their homes. They're being very careful right now. About 45 minutes ago, it was a deluge for about a half-hour. And those were the outer bands moving in. Most of the people here, especially the kids, were running around the neighborhood</s>COOPER: Gary Tuchman, stay safe tonight. And, as you can see from that storm tracker, that satellite image in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, where the eye is going to come ashore is in Chetumal. That's what Chad Myers was saying. Troops there have been deployed. More than a foot-and-a-half of rain could fall by this time tomorrow. Let's take you there right now. CNN's Harris Whitbeck is standing by. Harris, is Chetumal ready for this thing?</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I certainly hope so, Anderson. This is going to be a huge storm. And there hasn't been a hurricane here since 1975. People so far seem pretty calm about it. Just a few minutes ago, we still had people walking out here along the waterfront, checking out the bay. The waters of the bay very calm, very little rain so far, and no winds. That, of course, is expected to change very rapidly over the next few hours. The Mexican government has over 700 shelters scattered throughout the peninsula, many of them here in Chetumal. The concern is that, right next to Chetumal, there's a big nature preserve. It's a big swamp that is populated by about 3,500 of members of an indigenous Mayan community. They have been evacuated from that community -- from that area, because they live in very flimsy dwellings, have been put in shelters here in Chetumal. And that's just one of the concerns local authorities will be facing tonight. Again, so far, it's very calm, but that's going to change very quickly.</s>COOPER: Yes. As Chad said, it's going to be a very long night for you and for all the residents there. Stay as safe as you can. Let's turn next to CNN's Jason Carroll. He's live in Cancun, joins us now by phone. Jason, what are the preparations there like?</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been watching the preparations all day long, Anderson. The hotels here really feel prepared for whatever Dean has to offer. Right now, in standing out here, what we have been seeing is -- is the growing intensity of wind and rain and the pounding surf. And, on Friday, the governor was expecting even worse. And, so, what he was asking everyone to do, many of the tourists in this popular beach community, to evacuate. Between Friday and today, Anderson, 70,000 people, we are told, according to the secretary of tourism, have, in fact, left. But there are still some 20,000 people who are still here, many of those people staying in shelters, many of them staying in hotels, like we are. Many of these hotels were rebuilt, reinforced after Hurricane Wilma ripped through here two years ago, caused a great deal of damage. Tougher building codes were put into effect. And because of that, these people feel that they're better equipped to handle whatever Dean has to offer. What is happening inside some of these hotels is, they set up safe zones, Anderson. And what they tell you is, if you go into your room, you do so at your own risk. Obviously, if you go outside, you do so at your own risk. If you're in the hotel, you need to be in this safe zone, oftentimes which are set up in the center of the hotel towards the bottom of the hotel. That's where most of the people are staying and waiting out whatever Dean has to offer -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Well, certainly for Cancun is lucky, as Chad pointed out earlier, because this storm has jogged a little bit south. The eye is going to be coming far south of where Cancun is, the strongest winds not hitting Cancun. So, that's certainly good news there. To give you another angle on Dean's power, consider Jamaica, which avoided the worst, as we told you, but it still got hit pretty bad. Reporting tonight from Montego Bay, here is CNN's Susan Candiotti.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dean missed, but not by much. At sunup, workers in the capital city of Kingston already clearing debris from streets. Authorities say landslides occurred in mostly rural areas, but, so far, no deaths are reported. Sustained winds of more tan 110 miles per hour peeled back roofs. A powerful storm surge of up to nine feet floated this car where its driver never intended. With power still out, the prime minister ordered a state of emergency, and troops are patrolling streets in Kingston to prevent looting. For so much, the frightening storm was overwhelming. Before Dean hammered Jamaica, it tore a deadly path across the southern Caribbean. Five people died in St. Lucia, Dominica, and Martinique. Two others died in Haiti. West of Jamaica, in the Cayman Islands, this CNN I-Report captured Dean's fury. (on camera): Throughout Jamaica, a curfew remains in effect. So even though everybody is out and about, the stores are not allowed to reopen as yet. It doesn't mean that people are not walking around just to see how everyone fared after the storm, to exchange stories. But some street vendors are back at work. You had enough supplies to get by?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. I had enough supplies. I come downtown and I go shopping at the supermarket. And I was well prepared.</s>CANDIOTTI (voice-over): In Montego Bay, tourists who couldn't leave before Dean lined up at the airport to get on the first planes out. This couple here to see their son get married, the wedding was Friday. Then came Dean.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once it started, it wasn't a big deal. We played cards, had some drinks, you know, made a party out of it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then, when the electricity went off, and that was that.</s>CANDIOTTI: Five thousand people filled shelters. Electricity, shut down before the storm remains out on the island, with no estimates on when power will be restored. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Montego Bay, Jamaica.</s>COOPER: These storms, of course, can change very quickly. Let's go back to severe weather expert Chad Myers, got some new information. Chad, what's going on?</s>MYERS: I was just doing some figuring, Anderson. At 189 miles an hour, I figured this had to be one of the strongest. And, in fact, it is one of the 10th stronger. It is actually the 10th lowest pressure of all time. The pressure -- and I want you to go look at your barometer, that thing you never look at in the -- the living room -- 26.99 inches of mercury. That's probably all the way off the bottom. Camille was 26.84, so, literally, a storm the size, the strength, the depth of Camille. Here's where it is now. There are still a little bit -- there's still a little left or right that this thing could go before it does make landfall. But, notice, you remember how this thing was a shotgun; it just spread itself out five days away? Well, when you get only 12 hours away, that shotgun is not so far away. And, if we get a little bit closer, you will find Chetumal right there. That is going to be coming through. These are all the other computer programs that are showing it. This is the town of Chetumal. And now I'm going to pop on here every part of town that is 18 feet or lower above sea level, which is most of the eastern and southeastern part of town and all of downtown below that. So, at any type of significant storm surge, a lot of this town will be underwater. Now, this is going to be on the south side of the eye, not the north side of the eye, probably not a huge storm surge here. But if it happens, if water gets over the barrier island into this bay, into Chetumal Bay, there will be a lot of this town underwater -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: That's going to be very difficult, indeed.</s>COOPER: We're going to continue to come in, check back with Chad. We're also going to -- when we come back with Chad, there's going to be another update coming up in about half-an- hour or so. So, we will get the latest information on that. And also want to check in with Chad about, days from now, where this things will go, where it's going to hit next. As Mexico braces for Dean, there's one hurricane that millions in Latin America are never going to forget. Here's the "Raw Data" on it. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch left a path of misery and destruction, killing more than 11,000 people. Most of the victims were in Honduras and Nicaragua. Mitch was the deadliest hurricane to hit the Western Hemisphere in more than 200 years. Well, when we come back in this hour, massive flooding in America and one amazing rescue that turned into a twofer.</s>COOPER (voice-over): Acres of flooding, moments of terror.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh -- oh, no. That is exactly what I did not want to see.</s>COOPER: See what happened next and what's happening all across the middle of the country, as the water just keeps rising. Later, they say it's too unsafe to go back in to dig for the six missing miners.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel that they have given up.</s>COOPER: So, what do family members think of mining company plans to go back in and dig for more coal and more profits? From heartache to outbreak to outrage -- tonight on 360.