Despite the rare intensity the storm packed when it hit land before dawn Tuesday, there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage in Mexico.

Authorities in neighboring Belize said the small central American country did suffer some damages to buildings, but did not report any deaths either.

Dean had killed at least nine people during its earlier rampage across the Caribbean.

The worst of the storm hit sparsely populated areas, sparing popular tourist resorts and causing no major structural damage in cities near its point of entry into Mexico.

The hurricane lost much of its power as it swirled across the Yucatan Peninsula but forecasters said it could regain fuel from the warm Gulf waters as it headed toward central Mexico for a likely second landfall on Wednesday.

Despite the storm's weakened condition, President Felipe Calderon expressed concern over the fate of isolated and impoverished Mayan communities along its path and said relief efforts would focus on those areas.

Speaking at a summit in Canada, he said he would head back to Mexico Tuesday and fly to affected areas as soon as his plane could land there.

During the summit, US President George W. Bush told his Mexican counterpart the United States was ready to assist in recovery efforts.

"I want you to know that US agencies are in close touch with the proper Mexican authorities, and if you so desire help, we stand ready to help," Bush said.

The monster storm hit land in a sparsely populated area near Puerto Bravo, about 280 kilometers (175 miles) south of the tourist resort of Cancun, packing sustained winds of 270 kilometers (165 miles) per hour, with higher gusts.

That made it the first Atlantic hurricane to make landfall at the topmost category five on the Saffir-Simpson scale since Andrew rampaged in south Florida in 1992.

Tens of thousands of tourists had fled Cancun and other popular resorts ahead of the storm, but those who stayed behind enjoyed a sunny day Tuesday, though most steered clear of the still stormy seas.

In Chetumal, a city of 450,000 people close to the landfall area, electricity was down, uprooted trees blocked roads and officials said floodwaters were as high as two meters (6.6 feet) in a low-lying part of town.

"I was very scared, the wind made a horrible sound as it hit the corrugated metal roof," said Rosa Ramirez, 16, who spent the night huddled in a small house with 14 family members. At one stage the family also feared they had lost 10 sheep who had run away, but the animals were later rounded up unharmed.

In the nearby village of Bacala, hundreds of dead or agonizing birds littered the ground.

Meanwhile world oil prices continued to drop on Tuesday as the storm remained on course to spare key energy facilities in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of crude.

State-run Petroleos de Mexico (PEMEX) earlier evacuated all 18,000 personnel from its offshore oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico. Calderon said the evacuations caused the loss of two-and-a-half million barrels of crude by Tuesday.

At midnight GMT Tuesday evening, Dean's center was about 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of the city of Campeche and 555 kilometers (345 miles) east of Tuxpan, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

It was expected to be "very near the coast of central Mexico" Wednesday where eight-foot tidal surges and up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) of rain were likely, the center said in its latest report.

Its maximum sustained winds were down to 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour, making it at category one hurricane, the lowest intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale -- but the NHC said "some re-strengthening" was expected in coming days.

Before it hit Mexico, Hurricane Dean was blamed for four deaths in Haiti, two in the Dominican Republic, two in Martinique and one in Jamaica.

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