In a statement issued on Monday, the Caymanian authorities announced that:

"Grand Cayman continues to experience tropical storm force winds but the weather outlook continues to be promising. As a result, the Government issued the all-clear at 4:30 pm today."

"This follows in the wake of the lifting of the all-island curfew for Grand Cayman at 2 pm today, both events an expeditious resolution to a dramatic three days that ranged from fears of a Category Five direct hit to the maximum impact of gusts of 64 mph recorded around 8.30 am this morning. In addition, there has been minimal rainfall and no weather-related injuries."

"However, reports are coming in of continued high waves on the eastern and southern coasts. At some points the sea has breached the roads, and heavy wave action is expected, at least for the rest of the day. There may be localized flooding in coastal areas."

"In addition, waves have thrown some debris onto roads in the eastern and southern portions of the islands, among the conditions that make driving on the road perilous. So though the RCIP Commissioner has confirmed that the curfew introduced for Grand Cayman at 10pm Sunday night, 19 August, was lifted at 2pm today, members of the public are urged to exercise extreme caution when moving around in their immediate environs and are urged to stay off the roads in the best interests of their well-being and safety."

"Given minimal impact on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, the curfew issued for the Sister Islands was lifted at 9 am today."

The government gave out the following details regarding the status of key areas that were still being assessed on Monday:

"No reports of injuries have been received. All clinics and the hospitals are functioning. No damage has been reported to buildings. One family was evacuated because of local flooding."

"Electricity is still off in the eastern districts and sporadic outages have been reported in western districts - approximately 8 of 23 circuits were affected and it is expected that service will be restored island wide within 24 hours."

"The Water Authority has been undertaking preliminary assessment and announced that it will begin restoring water supply as early as 4 pm today to all areas except Sandy Ground Lane, Prospect Point Road, and South Sound Road, from Old Crewe Road to the Rugby Club. The Cayman Water Company is now back in operation. Customers are reminded to check their property for leaks."

"All communication systems, radio, land-lines, mobile and internet services are working."

"All marine craft must remain in harbour until further notice."

"The two Royal Navy ships remain on standby near to Grand Cayman and ready to assist."

The Airport was scheduled to re-open on Tuesday, and at the same time visitors were to be allowed to resume travel to the Cayman Islands.

Prior to Hurrican Dean, the Cayman Islands authorities assured stakeholders in the jurisdiction's financial services industry that the sector was fully prepared for the potential impact.

"On financial services, the Cayman Islands' financial services sector serves global clientele and is economically very significant. As such, both government agencies and private sector firms have comprehensive business continuity plans in place, and these have all been activated," Stuart Jack, Governor of the Cayman Islands, announced on Sunday.

He continued:

"Our financial services industry, which consists of local and multi-national professional services firms in the legal and accounting fields, as well as branches of regional and global financial services firms in the funds, insurance and banking sectors, is fully committed to continuity of service to our global partners and clients."

"For government agencies that support our financial services industry, such as our industry regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, the Maritime Authority and the Stock Exchange, and key departments such as the Registry of Companies, preparedness is critical. Contingencies involve the use of robust business continuity/disaster recovery centres to secure data and ensure fully operational and connected working environments in the event of damage to physical offices."

"Many of the larger professional services firms that are housed in state-of-the-art, secure commercial buildings are utilising their offices as shelters for staff and their families. A number of firms have, as a precaution, moved operations, staff and their families to other sites within their office networks. Others are reserving evacuation for post-event scenarios, depending on the severity of Hurricane Dean's impact. Similar to the public sector, many private sector firms are also employing business continuity/disaster recovery centres."

Mr Jack concluded:

"With business continuity plans fully operational it is anticipated that, similar to other storm threats that the Cayman Islands has experienced, our financial services industry will be able to continue to meet the needs of the global markets it serves with minimal disruption."

On Friday the jurisdiction's financial services regulatory, CIMA, activated its business continuity plan. Equipment and material at CIMA's Elizabethan Square offices was secured and the Authority's primary offsite disaster recovery centre was readied.

In addition to the DRC facilities, CIMA had a second layer of protection in the form of the Brac Informatics Centre (BIC) on Cayman Brac. There is ongoing back-up of critical data from the Authority to the two off-site locations, so that information can be recovered and accessed if the computer systems at CIMA's Elizabethan Square offices were to become damaged or inaccessible.