CATEGORY:WEATHER NEWS -------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA FRIDAY August 17,2007 HURRICANE DEAN uprooted trees, downed power-lines and ripped the roof off the pediatric wing of the Victoria Hospital in Castries, St.Lucia; the patients, however, were safely removed from that wing earlier on in anticipation of the assault from Dean. To date, there have not been any immediate reports of injury or death on the island which boosts a population of approximately 170,000. On the nearby French island of Martinique, sustained winds were measured at 75 mph (120kph) with gusts approaching 105mph (170kph). Dean entered the warm Caribbean Sea through the narrow St.Lucia Channel and has the potential to grow into a Category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson scale) somewhere in the region of the Yucatan Peninsular. This can happen over the next four days since conditions in the Caribbean Sea seem conducive to further intensification. Dean is presently a category 2 hurricane. At 8:00AM this morning, Hurricane Dean was located at 14.4 N Latitude and 61.7W Longitude - approximately 165 miles (266km) away from Grenada. The system is moving at a speed of 23 mph in a westerly direction. Maximum sustained wind is 100 mph. Tropical storm force winds extend up to 140 miles from the center. Tropical storm warnings for Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have already been discontinued. The tropical storm warning for Grenada and its dependencies, as well as for some other islands in the Lesser Antilles, is expected to be lifted sometime during the course of the day.