Hurricane Dean stirs up storm warnings on its way into Caribbean

(CNN) -- Powerful Hurricane Dean swirled ever closer to the sun-kissed Caribbean islands Thursday night, prompting forecasters to extend tropical storm warnings to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Dean, a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, was expected to pass near the islands of St. Lucia and Martinique early Friday, on its way across the Lesser Antilles into the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center.

St. Lucia and Martinique were under a hurricane watch, as were the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe. People on the islands were being warned to finish preparations to protect their safety and property.

At 11 p.m. ET, Dean's center was about 160 miles (258 kilometers) south-southeast of Martinique and about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northeast of Barbados, moving west at about 25 mph.

Forecasters said the storm could dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some mountainous areas, which could trigger flash floods and mudslides. Storm surge flooding as high as 4 feet was also forecast, with battering waves.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Barbados, Saba, St. Eustatius, Montserrat, Antigua, Nevis, St. Kitts, Barbuda, St. Maarten and Anguilla.

A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions, including winds of at least 39 mph, are expected within 24 hours.

A tropical storm watch was also issued for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, which means tropical storm conditions are possible there within 36 hours.

The current forecast track shows Dean strengthening as it moves west, on a path to the south of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. By Saturday, Dean is forecast to reach Category 3 strength, with winds of at least 111 mph. See Hurricane Dean's projected route »

By Sunday, forecasters expect Dean to reach Category 4 status, with winds in excess of 131 mph, as it nears Jamaica. The current forecast path takes the storm into Mexico's Yucatan peninsula Monday -- still as a Category 4 storm -- then weaken and re-enter the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 storm.

Meanwhile, the system that was once known as Tropical Storm Erin sloshed ashore on the already-waterlogged Texas coast Thursday, triggering widespread flooding that contributed to at least one death.

Erin made landfall early Thursday near the city of Lamar, north of Corpus Christi, as a tropical depression, with winds of 35 mph.

However, one of Erin's rain bands parked itself over the city of Houston, dumping 6 inches of rain in about four hours, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

Video footage from the Lone Star State showed cars and trucks trying to navigate roads that were largely underwater. As of 4 p.m. ET, the city had received between 6 and 8 inches of rain, and authorities had performed 70 high-water rescues, according to the office of Houston Mayor Bill White.

One person was killed and another was injured when a storage unit behind a grocery store collapsed, White's office said. CNN affiliate KHOU reported the roof of an office building also collapsed, but there were no injuries.

The region between Corpus Christi, Austin and Houston has already surpassed its average yearly rainfall totals, with some areas getting as much as 4 feet of rain so far this year.

Austin had nearly 40 inches of rain as of Thursday -- about an inch above that city's normal average for the entire year. Corpus Christi has had about 33 inches so far this year, 15 inches more than it usually has by mid-August. And Houston had 40 inches of precipitation as of Thursday, nearly a foot more than it usually has at this time of year, according to National Weather Service archives. E-mail to a friend

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