Dean, the first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season, was headed toward the Lesser Antilles on Thursday, prompting hurricane warnings for the islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia, according to dpa. The category one hurricane was about 565 kilometres east of Barbados on Thursday morning and was expected to pick up strength as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, the US National Hurricane Centre said. The storm had winds of 150 kilometres per hour. Another storm, Tropical Depression Erin, hit the coast of Texas on Thursday morning, bringing heavy rains of up to 25 centimetres. It was expected to move further inland before dissipating in several days.
