Strong swells provoked by the powerful Hurricane Dean passing near the southern Jamaican coast cause Monday heavy rains and floods in eastern Cuba.

Moving west in the Caribbean Sea, Dean continues intensifying and could increase in the coming hours to become a category-5 hurricane, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Jose Rubiera, chief of the Forecast Center of the Cuban Institute of Meteorology, said there will be sea surges, flooding and serious cloud cover, with some rains mainly in the south west and center coast in the afternoon.

The National Civil Defense called a hurricane alarm phase since 6 o'clock of Sunday morning for provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Granma, while Holguin, Las Tunas, Camaguey, Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth are on a tropical storm warning, and the rest on an informational phase.

Source: CubaSi