page_title: Effects of Hurricane Dean in Mexico
section_title: First landfall
hierarchical_section_title: Effects of Hurricane Dean in Mexico / Impact / First landfall
caption_attribution_description: en:Hurricane Dean making its landfall on the en:Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 5 hurricane. Image from a NOAA GOES satellite, using the AVN color enhancement on en:August 21, en:2007 at 08:45 (en:UTC)
context_page_description: The effects of Hurricane Dean in Mexico were more severe than anywhere else in the storm's path. Hurricane Dean, the most intense storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, formed in the Atlantic Ocean west of Cape Verde on August 14, 2007. The Cape Verde-type hurricane sped through the Caribbean Sea, rapidly intensifying before making landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Accurate forecasts of the storm's location and intensity enabled thorough preparations; nevertheless when the massive storm made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale it damaged thousands of homes.
  Weakening as it crossed the peninsula, Dean emerged into the Bay of Campeche and re-strengthened before making a second landfall in Veracruz. Although the second landfall did not bring winds as intense as the first, it brought more rainfall and caused devastating landslides in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Between the two landfalls, Dean caused MXN$2 billion of damage and killed 13 people.
context_section_description: The hurricane hit land near Majahual on the Quintana Roo coast of the Yucatán Peninsula at 0830 UTC on August 21. Wind gusts of 200 mph (320 km/h) were reported. The state's tourist cities of Cancún and Cozumel were spared the worst of the storm, but it wreaked havoc in the state capital Chetumal, some 40 mi (65 km) south of landfall, causing significant flooding. Communication with the Mayan communities near the landfall location was initially difficult, but the town of Majahual, which had a population of 200, was "almost flattened" by the storm. Storm surge and high winds severely damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and had the strength to crumple steel girders. About 15,000 families were left homeless, primarily in small villages around Quintana Roo. At the Costa Maya cruise port, waves tore away portions of the concrete docks and destroyed the boardwalk. The damage made the port unsuitable for cruise ships, effectively freezing the region's tourism industry until they could be repaired. The hurricane's winds damaged 2.3 million ha (5.7  million acres) of jungle, almost all of it in Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche.
  At its first landfall, the bulk of Hurricane Dean's damage was to agriculture. 12,000 producers suffered losses, mostly in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán. 30,000 ha (74,000 acre) of habanero peppers were destroyed, along with 150,000 ha (370,000 acre) of corn and 60,000 ha (150,000 acre) of citrus. Extensive damage to fields planted with bananas, avocados, cucumbers, squash, jalapeño peppers, and other crops were also reported on the Yucatán Peninsula.
  President Felipe Calderón cut short a visit to Canada to return to Mexico and assess the damage. Hurricane Dean's Category 5 landfall–the first such landfall in the Atlantic basin in 15 years–took no lives. International organizations, including the United Nations, attributed this to the government's thorough preparations and forecasters' ample warning.
caption: Dean at landfall in Mexico as a Category 5 hurricane
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