trouble in paradise

My job makes me a storm junkie. But while it's too early to predict with certainty Hurricane Dean's eventual U.S. landfall (though at this point, my guess is a landfall just south of the Texas/Mexico border), Jamaica is about to be devastated. At the moment Dean is a Category 4 (stronger than Katrina at landfall) and barring some drastic change, by tomorrow night, could be a Cat. 5 bearing down on the island.

Third world countries always suffer more from natural disasters. The deadliest storm of 2005 (which included Katrina and Rita) was Hurricane Stan, killing more than 2,000 in Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.

My memories of Jamaica are vague, having been there when I was 11 or so. Shame I didn't have a chance to go back, as I think the country may be irreparably changed in the next few days.