Hurricane Dean, a huge Category 5 storm, lashed Mexico's Caribbean coast on Tuesday, with heavy rain and howling winds that battered beach resorts where thousands of tourists huddled in shelters.

Seas churned as the storm, which has already killed 11 people on its rampage through the Caribbean, began to whip Mexico's "Mayan Riviera" hotel strip.

Tourists squeezed into a hotel serving as a shelter for 400 people in the resort of Playa del Carmen, where winds violently shook palm trees. As many as 12 people were sharing some rooms.

Category 5 hurricanes -- the strongest possible -- are rare but there were four in 2005, including Katrina, which devastated New Orleans. The higher number of powerful storms in recent years has reinforced research that suggests global warming may increase the strength of tropical cyclones.

Out to sea, Dean was packing winds of around 160 mph (260 kph), and the eye of the storm was 100 miles from the shore.

The center of Dean was due to make landfall within hours in a marshy zone near Mexico's border with Belize. Troops and police patrolled the area to enforce a curfew declared by the state government.

Store windows were boarded up along the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, a strip of beach resorts with bright white sands that is yet to fully recover from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

The strongest Atlantic storm recorded, Wilma wrecked Cancun and other beach resorts. It washed away whole beaches, killed seven people and caused $2.6 billion in damages.

Mexico's state oil company was closed and evacuated all of its 407 oil and gas wells in the Campeche Sound, meaning lost production of 2.65 million barrels of crude per day.

Heavy rain drenched Belize, a former British colony that is home to some 250,000 people and a famous barrier reef.

Dean swiped Jamaica at the weekend with roaring winds and pelting rain. Roads were blocked by toppled trees and power poles and police said two people were killed.

That took the death toll from Dean to eleven. Haiti was worst hit with four people dead there.

Poor local residents with badly built homes are often the worst hit by hurricanes in Mexico.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon planned to cut short a visit to Canada, where he met President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to return home to oversee the emergency effort.

Dean was due to cross the Yucatan Peninsula and come out in the Gulf of Mexico before hitting land again in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

PHOTO CAPTION

Debris left by Hurricane Dean is seen in the streets of Kingston. (AFP)

Reuters