Martinique took Dean's fury earlier

Jamaica is braced for a direct hit from Dean, the season's first major storm.

The country's authorities have closed airports and imposed curfews, and the US has said it is prepared to fly in aid if necessary.

Winds of 230km/h (145mph) from the hurricane have battered the eastern Caribbean, leaving at least four dead.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic have also been affected, with heavy rain and high seas causing flooding in some coastal areas.

Campaigning halted

Jamaica has converted schools, churches and the indoor national sports arena into emergency shelters.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller has called for off-duty police officers, firefighters and prison warders to report for work to help prepare for the storm.

She has also halted campaigning for elections, due to be held on 27 August.

"Let us band together and unite in the threat of this hurricane," she said.

Thousands of tourists queued at airports, desperate to get flights out before the storm hits.

Dutch tourist Gideon Tuttezs, queuing at Montego Bay's airport, told Reuters: "If we don't manage to leave we'll go back to the hotel and barricade the hotel room and then hope and pray."

Some areas have been placed under a 48-hour curfew, starting at 1800 on Saturday (2300 GMT), and regions prone to flooding are being evacuated.

Rest of the region

Cayman Airways has put on 15 extra flights from the Cayman Islands to Florida, as thousands flee the British territory

In Cuba, tens of thousands of people in the east of the country are being evacuated and officials said tourist programmes had been suspended

Officials in the French territory of Martinique have estimated the damage caused by the hurricane will cost more than 150m euros ($200m; £100m) to repair

A state of emergency has been declared in Mexico, where the government is preparing to evacuate thousands of tourists and close down oil production.
Hurricane Dean is building up strength as it passes through the Caribbean.

Forecasters say it may achieve the highest category, five, by the time it reaches Mexico on Monday.

Swept away

Rough waves damaged buildings on the coast of the Dominican Republic, and a boy was reported drowned and several people were injured in the capital Santo Domingo.

Dean earlier visited destruction on the islands of St Lucia, Martinique and Dominica, with roofs ripped off and banana plantations flattened.

In Dominica, a landslide crushed a woman and her seven-year-old son while they slept in their home.

In St Lucia, a 62-year-old man was swept away and drowned when he tried to retrieve a cow from a rain-swollen river.

On the island of Gonave, west of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, thousands of people have been left without electricity and have taken refuge in schools and churches, Associated Press reports.