WASHINGTON, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Hurricane Dean will make landfall on the Mexican coast Tuesday night and could reach Category 5, the most severe, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday.
Dean, the first major storm of the season, has already killed nine people and is sweeping through the Caribbean Sea at a speed of 145 miles per hour (230 km per hour). It is currently a Category 4.
NASA said Sunday it has decided to bring shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day earlier due to worries about the powerful storm.
"At 11:00 a.m. EDT [3:00 p.m. GMT] the center of Hurricane Dean was located... 125 miles... southwest of Grand Cayman and about 385 miles... east of Belize City... Dean is likely to become a Category Five hurricane prior to making landfall," the center said.