Hurricane Iris spared Jamaica a direct hit today and took aim at Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as it swirled through the Caribbean with 85 mph winds.
Rains lashed parts of the island and forecasters warned flash floods and landslides were still possible, though Iris was moving away from Jamaica.
Three people were killed in the Dominican Republic yesterday when their house collapsed because of the storm, the Dominican Civil Defence Force said.
Mexico, meanwhile, braced for Iris to attack the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula as early as tomorrow evening. Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the northern tip of Quintana Roo state southward and neighboring Belize also issued a hurricane watch for its coast.
Raul Rivera, deputy director of the Mexico’s Civil Protection Services' meteorological service, said the first effects of the storm could be felt on the southeastern coast tomorrow evening, when it could gain force to become a Category 2 storm.
Hurricane warnings - a 24-hour alert - were still in place for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, although warnings for Cuba were discontinued earlier on Sunday as the storm head westward at a speed of 19 mph.
As of 2 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. GMT), Iris's centre was located about 205 miles southeast of Grand Cayman, or at latitude 17.5 north and longitude 78.9 west, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Rains lashed parts of the island of 2.7 million people but for the most part they were able to breathe sighs of relief with residents saying it was not as bad as had been expected.
The National Hurricane Center, however, said Jamaica could expect more rain and battering waves.
In the Cayman Islands, a British territory and a major offshore financial centre, authorities advised visitors to consider voluntary evacuation. The storm was expected to pass about 10 miles (16 km) south of the main island of Grand Cayman after midnight.
In eastern and central Cuba, thousands of people were evacuated to safe locations, state-run media reported.
However, they were out of potential danger by noon today and hurricane warnings were dropped.