New Delhi: The high-intensity Hurricane Dean battered Jamaica's south coast, ripping off roofs and triggering mudslides.
Jamaica's electrical grid was powered down on Sunday as the first winds of the hurricane hit the eastern end of the island.
Forecasters fear the situation could get worse with winds topping 230 kmph and say Dean has the potential to devastate the whole island.
All flights out of the area have been cancelled and Jamaican officials have issued a general warning.
David Shields, the deputy director of the island's tourism board, described conditions in the capital, Kingston, as "absolutely scary."
Ronald Jackson, Jamaica's disaster preparedness director, said at least one house had collapsed, but there were no known serious injuries.
"We'll be sending assessment teams out as soon as we can," he told news agency Reuters.
Authorities in the Cayman Islands also imposed a curfew and evacuated tourists in wake of the hurricane which has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, killing at least eight people.
Dean was expected to pass to the south of the Caymans but the government said it still posed a ''significant threat'' to the islands.
Hundreds of frantic vacationers lined up at ticket counters for special flights home, and many slept on the airport floor. Cayman Islands Gov. Stuart Jack said all but 1,500 tourists had been evacuated from the British territory by Sunday afternoon.
Sustained winds of 80 mph buffeted Kingston, and amateur radio operators reported streets were flooding, the hurricane center said.
An unofficial observation from Lionel Town, about 30 miles east of the capital, put top winds at 100 mph. And an aviation weather station at Kingston International Airport clocked winds even higher, at 114 mph.
Tropical storm-force winds could be felt as far out as 205 miles from the storm, forecasters reported.
Dean was moving westward at nearly 20 mph as it skirted the island, forecasters said. As it moves into the western Caribbean Sea, the storm retains the potential to become a Category 5 hurricane -- the top of the scale, with winds in excess of 155 mph.
(With agency inputs)
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