Wilma advances towards Florida
The governor of Florida today declared a state of emergency ahead of approaching Hurricane Wilma, but the state got a little breathing room when the storm’s slower pace postponed its likely landfall.
Across Florida’s south-west coast, people put up shutters, bought canned goods and bottled water and waited in ever-growing lines at petrol stations.
Officials began clearing tourists out of the low-lying Florida Keys but postponed the evacuation of island residents.
Wilma weakened slightly today, but was still a Category 4 storm with 145mph wind. That was down from 150mph earlier in the day and 175mph yesterday, when its intensity, measured by internal barometric pressure, dropped to a record low.
Gov Jeb Bush’s declaration in advance of the storm gives officials the ability to activate the National Guard and broad authority over evacuation plans, the distribution of recovery supplies and other items.
At 4pm Irish time, forecasters said Wilma was about 488 miles south-south-west of Key West.
It was heading west-northwest toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula at around near 7mph.
Wilma had slowed down as it approached Yucatan, and its slow pass over land in Mexico could weaken it further before the expected turn toward Florida.
The slower movement pushed the forecast for Florida landfall to sometime on Sunday, a day later than previously forecast, hurricane centre meteorologist Jennifer Pralgo said.
At that point, Wilma was expected to be at Category 2, with 96-110mph winds, Pralgo said.
The slowed forward motion led officials in the Florida Keys to put off a mandatory evacuation of residents until tomorrow.
Tourists were told to leave yesterday, and the streets were almost empty early this morning.
Many Floridians held out hope that the region would be entirely spared.
“We’ve had them come this way before, but they’ve turned in the past,” said Joanne Weaver, a real estate agent who has lived for 40 years in Marco Island, about 20 miles south of Naples. “We’re hoping that will happen again this time.”
But residents remained wary, having seen what Katrina and Rita did in Louisiana and Mississippi and what their own state suffered last year with four hurricanes in quick succession.
If Wilma reached Florida as a Category 3 or 4 storm, 2that potential for large loss of life is with us,” said National Hurricane Centre Director Max Mayfield.
Wilma was on a path that could threaten the areas hit by Hurricane Charley in August 2004. Some houses and businesses in the area are still boarded up because of that storm.
The White House promised to stay on top of the situation, hoping to avoid a repeat of the slow initial response to Katrina. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was positioning emergency materials in Jacksonville, Lakeland and Homestead.
The governor said the state had ample food, water and ice ready for hard-hit areas.
Although Wilma was approaching from the west, forecasters warned that Atlantic Coast cities including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach could be hit by strong winds.
Forecasters expect the storm to make a sharp right turn toward Florida after hitting Yucatan because it will get caught in the westerlies, the strong wind current that generally blows toward the east.
