Two dead in St Lucia as the Eastern Caribbean counts the damage

The storm strengthened into a Category 4 Hurricane after roaring through the eastern Caribbean.

Parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, were on hurricane watch on Saturday.

A weekend hurricane watch also remains in place for Jamaica and parts of Cuba.

The British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were on tropical storm watch. The US National Hurricane Centre expected this to be discontinued later on Saturday.

Two dead

St Lucian authorities have confirmed that two people were killed.

The BBC's Patricia Maxwell Lewis was in St Lucia, on the northern part of the island when Dean struck in the wee hours of Friday morning.

"It arrived with a bang at about 2:30 this morning, the winds have been blowing very strongly all night," she said.

She confirmed that the children's ward in the main hospital in the capital Castries had suffered a hit from Dean, with the roof blown off.

She also reported a lot of flooding, with boats blown onto dry land.

Martinique

In Martinique, Radio Caraibe International's Jean Phillip Ludon told BBC Caribbean that many roofs had been ripped off houses on the French island, and that flooding had been a serious problem in several areas.

Electricity was affected, with more than 100,000 people left without power supplies overnight.

Electricity has since been restored in the capital Fort de France.

Jean Phillip Ludon said many Martiniquans had confirmed taking shelter in their "toilets" after roofs or windows had disappeared in Dean's raging winds.

Dominica too, is assessing how badly hit it was by the storm.

Local radio stations have been reporting one person dead and another missing, but the authorities in Roseau had not confirmed this by Friday afternoon.

Jamaican alert

Jamaica meanwhile has gone on alert, fearing it could feel the powerful winds of the storm by Saturday evening.

"We have been preparing for any eventuality," the Director General of Jamaica's Disaster Preparedness Office Ronald Jackson told BBC Caribbean.

He admitted that possible flooding in low-lying areas and sea swells affecting coastal areas were among the concerns.

"There are a number of communities, most of them low-lying especially in the eastern section of the island which we are carefully planning for and watching" Mr Jackson said.

Even before its arrival on Jamaican shores Dean is already causing trouble - campaigning ahead of the August 27 general election in ten days time has all but been put on hold for the weekend.

Officials fear a direct hit which could result in the election being postponed.