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Dean takes 2nd swing at Mexico

The weakening storm brings rain as the Caribbean death toll rises to 20.

TECOLUTLA, Mexico - A sprawling Hurricane Dean slammed into Mexico for the second time in as many days Wednesday and quickly stretched across to the Pacific Ocean, then weakened as it drenched the central mountains with rain that flooded houses along the coast.

Coming ashore with top sustained winds of 100 mph, Dean's center hit the tourism and fishing town of Tecolutla shortly after civil defense workers loaded the last evacuees onto army trucks and headed to inland shelters.

At 8 p.m. EDT, Dean was 75 miles north of Mexico City, where it generated steady rain, and was moving west at 17 mph. The Hurricane Center predicted it would dissipate Wednesday night or this morning over the mountains of central Mexico.

Mexico had suspended offshore oil production and shut down its only nuclear power plant as tens of thousands headed for higher ground. The state oil company said there was no known damage to any of its production facilities on shore or in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dean struck land Wednesday as a Category 2 storm after regaining some of the force it unleashed on the Yucatan. Its first strike on the peninsula Tuesday as a Category 5 tempest with 165 mph winds was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever to make landfall.

Officials said there were no reports of deaths in Mexico directly caused by Dean, which killed 20 people in its earlier sweep through the Caribbean. The toll rose Wednesday when Haitian officials said seven more storm deaths had been reported in remote areas.

Dean's sustained winds dropped to 85 mph, Category 1, shortly after making landfall in late morning, and it was downgraded to a tropical storm by afternoon with winds of near 70 mph. Up to 20 inches of rain were expected.

[Last modified August 23, 2007, 01:15:06]