Hurricane Dean: (going to be one bad mofo wherever it goes. Pressure already down to 987)

Now forecast to mushroom into a Category 4 with 135 mph sustained winds, Dean became a hurricane early Thursday and was still in position to easily attack the U.S. East Coast as it plowed west across the Atlantic.

On the other hand, the forecast track was being steadily adjusted to the south, and the storm was predicted to pass south of Cuba. If so, it would remain about 500 miles from Florida.

Those projections could change. Forecasters were growing more confident, however, that a high-pressure area north of Dean’s forward track would keep the storm on a westerly course and prevent a northward turn toward Florida.

Tropical Storm Erin:

Some vacationers packed up while others vowed to wait out Tropical Storm Erin and its torrential rainfall as it headed for flood-weary Texas early Thursday.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Dean formed in the open Atlantic and headed toward the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, forecasters said.

Erin was not expected to gain hurricane strength before making landfall Thursday morning, which was why some said they wouldn’t abandon long-planned trips to Texas’ coast.

You can track these storms here

PERU HIT WITH MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE, 337 DEAD
Tsunami warning was issued for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia ( I just heard on the news the tsunami warning has been cancelled.)

A massive earthquake hit Peru on Wednesday evening and officials said hundreds of people were killed in the rubble of collapsed homes and a church as rescuers searched for victims early on Thursday.

Peru’s Health Minister Carlos Vallejos said 115 died in the 7.9-magnitude quake. But the nation’s civil defense agency, which leads rescue efforts, said more than 330 perished.

A view of a building on fire after an earthquake struck Rimac district in Peru, August 15, 2007. The massive earthquake hit Peru on Wednesday evening and officials said hundreds of people were killed in the rubble of collapsed homes and a church as rescuers searched for victims early on Thursday. (REUTERS/Andina/Handout)
Hundreds were injured and forced to sleep outside.

“Unfortunately we have official numbers,” Luis Palomino, the head of the agency, told Reuters. On its web site, the agency said 337 people died and 827 were injured.

Emergency workers said the coastal province of Ica south of Lima was the hardest hit region.

ALMOST 300 DEAD IN NORTH KOREA FLOODING

Almost 300 people are dead or missing in floods in North Korea, an aid agency said Thursday, as the communist state painted a grim picture of inundated crops and homes, flooded mines and washed-out roads.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said 214 were killed and 80 are missing in what it has called the worst floods to hit the impoverished country in a decade.

The acting head of the IFRC delegation in Pyongyang, Terje Lysholm, told Agence France-Presse by phone that the figures — the first detailed casualty count — came from the government.