Texas Watches As Hurricane Dean Nears

This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 00:15 a.m. EDT shows a big swirl of clouds in the eastern Caribbean Sea associated with intensifying Hurricane Dean. The storm has strengthened into a Category 4 storm and is expected to reach Category 5 status later Saturday. Winds hit 150 mph as it headed on a collision course with Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where it is forecast to become a Category 5 storm. (AP Photo/NOAA) (AP)

"I've been through all of this a few times," he said. "Now, they have the technology to tell you what you're looking at and where it's going to go. You should have enough time, if you pay attention, to get out of the way."

In New Orleans, where the memory of Hurricane Katrina is still fresh, people were already preparing.

Patrice Garibaldi said her family was beginning to pack things they might need if they left the city and put things they'd leave behind higher. The family rebuilt a house in eastern New Orleans, and Garibaldi said the threat of Dean was nerve-racking.

"I pray it doesn't come," she said, but her family is preparing because she's not satisfied the levees will be able to withstand a strong storm.

John Cannon, who's family still hasn't rebuilt their flooded house, said his family also has a home in Jackson, Miss., and that he's learned the back roads to avoid heavy traffic should they have to evacuate. He doesn't expect to wait for a mandatory evacuation to be called.

"If it even looks like it's coming this way, I'm going to take my kids and go," he said.

Some Galveston residents also weren't content to wait.

Richard Markiewicz, 39, hammered plywood against the windows of his beach house, about 100 yards from the seawall.

"I just figured to just get this over with now," said Markiewicz, who's lived on Galveston Island for 12 years. "If it's a Category 4 or a 5, I'm not going to stick around."

The city and some businesses started taking precautions. A public works crew removed giant logs, grocery carts and other debris that had washed ashore and were pinned inside the seawall. The objects could turn into dangerous projectiles if the storm makes landfall here.

At Arlan's Market, a grocery store less than a mile from the coast, manager Nick Arlan ordered more than three times the usual amount of bottled water on Friday and planned to do it again if Dean turned toward Galveston. He was also overstocking shelves with batteries and various canned goods.

State and federal governments were also getting ready.