Hurricane Wilma roars towards Florida
24/10/2005 - 07:11:24Rain pounded Key West early today as Hurricane Wilma accelerated towards storm-weary Florida, threatening residents with 115mph winds, tornadoes and a surge of seawater that could flood the Keys and the state’s south-west coast.
The Category 3 hurricane was expected to make landfall before dawn local time, late morning British time, in the state’s south-west corner, probably near Naples and Marco Island, National Hurricane Centre director Max Mayfield said.
He warned that the storm surge in the area could reach 14 to 19 feet.
Once ashore, the fast-moving hurricane was expected to slice north east across the state at up to 25mph, with the Atlantic Coast likely to get winds nearly as strong as those hitting the Gulf Coast.
Tornadoes spun off ahead of Wilma had already damaged a restaurant in Cocoa Beach and an orchid nursery on Merritt Island.
“I cannot emphasise enough to the folks that live in the Florida Keys: A hurricane is coming,” governor Jeb Bush told residents last night.
The entire southern Florida peninsula has been under a hurricane warning since Saturday, and an estimated 160,000 residents were told to evacuate, but many in the low-lying Keys island chain stayed.
“They’re going to be in deep trouble,” warned Billy Wagner, Monroe County emergency management director.
Forecasters warned of flooding from a storm surge of up to 17 feet on the south-west coast and eight feet in the Keys, where streets were already running with water early today.
At least three tornadoes were confirmed ahead of the storm, near Fort Drum, Kenansville and Cocoa Beach, and a waterspout was spotted off Key West.
Despite the repeated warnings, fewer than 10% of the Keys’ 78,000 residents evacuated, Monroe County Sheriff Richard Roth said.
“I’m disappointed, but I understand it,” Roth said. “They’re tired of leaving because of the limited damage they sustained during the last three hurricanes.”
Wilma was Florida’s eighth hurricane since August 2004 and the fourth evacuation of the Keys this year.
But the storm had already proved its damaging potential. Wilma battered the Mexican coastline with howling winds and torrential rains, killing at least three people. Thirteen others died in Jamaica and Haiti, and four bodies were found off Cozumel, although it was not clear if they were killed by the storm.
In Cuba, Wilma drenched the west of the island with heavy rains and flooded already evacuated communities along the islands’ southern coast.
Rainfall of up to 15 inches was possible in some parts of western Cuba, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.
In Florida, the National Guard was on alert, and state and federal officials had trucks of ice and food ready to deploy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was poised to send in dozens of military helicopters and 13.2 million ready meals if needed, spokesman Butch Kinerney said.
Governor Bush wrote his brother, President George Bush, asking that Florida be granted a major disaster declaration for 14 counties. Many of the areas bracing for Wilma were hit by hurricanes in the past two years.
At 5am Irish trime, Wilma was centred about 115 miles west of Key West, 160 miles south west of Naples and moving north east at about 18mph. Hurricane-force winds of at least 74mph extended up to 85 miles from the centre and wind blowing at tropical storm-force reached outward up to 230 miles, the hurricane centre said.
Meanwhile, in Cancun, Mexico, troops and federal police moved in to control looting at stores and shopping centres ripped open by Hurricane Wilma, as hunger and frustration surfaced amog Mexicans and stranded tourists.
The hurricane’s steady march towards southern Florida meant an end to two days of howling winds and torrential rains that shredded shopfronts, carried away entire beaches of sand and sent the ocean crashing into hotel lobbies.
But nature’s wrath was followed by another kind of chaos, as police shot into the air to scare looters away from a shopping centre, and crowds responded by hurling rocks and chucks of concrete.
In one downtown block, looters pried open the metal shutters of stores and emptied the entire block, despite knee-high water. They would run away when soldiers arrived, only to head back when they left.
“As soon as the hurricane arrived, the people went robbing,” said Eva Bernabe. “It’s sad because Cancun is a relaxed place. We’re good people. It’s not like this normally.”
Downtown, officials feared looters would turn on tourists, so they quickly evacuated more than 30 foreigners from a area overrun by people raiding stores.
State officials said at least three people were killed during the storm. One was hit by a falling tree and two others died from injuries they received when a petrol tank exploded.
Four bodies were also found floating in flood waters on the island of Cozumel. But officials said it was unclear if the deaths were related to the storm because the remains were badly decomposed, indicating they may have died before Wilma hit.
Last week, Wilma killed 13 people in Jamaica and Haiti.
On the isolated island of Cozumel, a popular spot with divers and cruise ships, the storm knocked out many of the island’s docks, making it difficult for the navy to arrive.
State officials were trying to clear airstrips on Cozumel and nearby Isla Mujeres so that planes could land with aid.
A long line of cars waiting at the city’s only operating petrol station, and most of the city remained without power last night.
People trickled back to the city’s elite hotel zone, where white-sand beaches had seemingly evaporated, exposing the concrete foundations of high-rise buildings to the elements.
Windows were blown out at the city’s main public hospital and about an inch of water stood on the floor of the intensive care unit, although a generator provided electricity.
“Almost nothing works, and there are many patients we can’t take care of,” nurse Dayna Chan said.
The US Embassy is sending consular officials to shelters to help tourists prepare for leave. The US government also offered to donate €164,000 in hurricane aid.
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