TULUM, Mexico — Hurricane Dean crashed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico today as a roaring Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic storm to make landfall in two decades. It lashed ancient Mayan ruins and headed for the modern oil installations of the Yucatán Peninsula.

The eye of the storm made landfall near Majahual, a port popular with cruise liners and about 40 miles east-northeast of Chetumal and the Belize border, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Dean's path was a stroke of luck for Mexico: It made landfall in a sparsely populated coastline that had already been evacuated, skirting most of the major tourist resorts. It weakened within hours to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, and the hurricane center predicted more weakening.

With the storm still screaming, there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage, Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez said, though officials had not been able to survey the area.

In Tulum, a beach town north of Dean's strike famed for its Mayan ruins, the storm bent palm trees and rattled tin roofing. Electricity was out, and residents huddled in their homes as the wind moaned through the darkened streets.

At landfall, Dean had sustained winds near 165 mph and even stronger gusts. It was moving west-northwest near 20 mph across the Yucatán Peninsula.

The hurricane killed at least 12 people across the Caribbean, picked up strength after brushing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and became a monstrous Category 5 hurricane on Monday.

Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera. Though expected to escape a direct hit, Cancun still could face destructive winds.

Dean's track would carry it into the central Mexican coast about 400 miles south of the Texas border by Wednesday.

Dean threatened the Yucatan's most vulnerable population — the Mayan people — many of whom still live in traditional wooden slat huts.

At the southern tip of Texas, sandbags were distributed in the resort town of South Padre Island, and residents were urged to evacuate.