DEAN UPDATE: Curfew declared, soldiers patrol streets as Hurricane Dean nears Jamaica.

UPDATE: Dean’s northern eyewall punishing Jamaica. Expected to pass slightly south of the Cayman Islands.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More on Jamaica here. And Mexico is evacuating oil rigs.

MORE: Jamaica video from Jim Edds. (Via Newsbeat1).

Meanwhile, reader Alain Gadoury emails: “Are you trying to outdo Drudge? All hurricane, all the time!”

Actually, I think I have outdone Drudge. The Cayman connection got me following this more closely than I usually follow hurricane news. Plus, with Brendan Loy living in Knoxville now, I guess the hurricane-blogging thing is just contagious!

STILL MORE: The latest Cayman outlook isn’t too bad: “Hurricane Dean is now moving in a direction between west and west northwest and is expected to continue this motion over the next 24 hours. If the current forecast holds, the maximum sustained winds that will be felt in the Cayman Islands will be between 60 and 70 mph.”