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Wilma weakens slightly, but roars ahead
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-20 21:18
CANCUN, Mexico - Hurricane Wilma weakened slightly Thursday as it roared
toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and southern Florida, an "extremely dangerous"
storm that already has killed 13 people and forced the evacuation of tens of
thousands from Honduras to the Florida Keys.
Wilma briefly grew into a Category 5 storm before weakening to a Category 4
with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. Forecasters at the National Hurricane
Center in Miami said it was expected to hit the resort of Cancun early Friday.
It would be the second hurricane to hit Cancun and its neighboring resorts
this year, following Hurricane Emily in July.
Tourists were ordered out of the Florida Keys and the island of Isla Mujeres
near Cancun on Wednesday, and authorities were poised to move out thousands of
others Thursday from low-lying areas in a 600-mile swath covering Cuba, Mexico,
Belize, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Cayman Islands.
Some of the estimated 70,000 tourists still in Cancun and surrounding areas
were taking the warnings more seriously than others, as heavy rain began lashing
the city. The Senor Frog's restaurant in Cancun sponsored a "Hurricane Wilma"
party, but it was far from full.
Standing knee-deep in the ocean and drinking beer in Playa de Carmen, south
of Cancun, Mike Goepfrich of Minneapolis said: "As long as they give me beer in
the shelter, and my kids are safe, we'll be fine. We're going to ride it out
here."
Nearby, fisherman Rolando Ramirez, 51, was helping others pull their fishing
boats from the water in preparation for Wilma's passage.
"People here aren't concerned about anything," Ramirez said. "They don't know
that when the hurricane comes, this will all be under water."
At 8 a.m. EDT, Wilma was centered 175 miles southeast of Mexico's Cozumel
Island, and was moving northwest at near 7 mph. The storm was expected to hit
the tip of the Yucatan peninsula, near Cancun, early Friday before turning
northeast toward southern Florida.
Forecasters said it could strengthen before hitting land and called Wilma an
"extremely dangerous hurricane."
The storm should eventually make the sharp right turn toward Florida because
it will get caught in the westerlies, the strong wind current that generally
blows toward the east, they said.
"We had well over a 1,000 lives lost in Katrina. If Wilma, you know, comes
into the U.S., to the Florida coast as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, that
potential for large loss of life is with us," said Max Mayfield, director of the
National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The White House promised to stay on top of the situation, hoping to avoid a
repeat of the slow initial response to Katrina. In Florida, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency was positioning emergency materials in Jacksonville,
Lakeland and Homestead.
"People should take this hurricane very seriously," said White House
spokesman Scott McClellan.
Countries across the region prepared for the worst. Much of Central America
and southern Mexico was still recovering from floods and landslides unleashed by
Hurricane Stan, which left more than 1,500 people dead or missing. Americans
were still mourning 1,200 Gulf coast victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In the coastal state of Quintana Roo — which includes Cancun — officials
ordered the evacuation of four low-lying islands, including Isla Mujeres, and
also closed the popular cruise ship port on the island of Cozumel.
"This is getting very powerful, very threatening," Mexican President Vicente
Fox said. Hundreds of schools in Quintana Roo were ordered closed Thursday and
Friday, and many will be used as storm shelters.
Predictions differed on where Wilma would go and how strong it would be when
it reaches U.S. shores, where Florida residents began buying water, canned food
and other emergency supplies.
Wilma's track could take it near Punta Gorda on Florida's southwestern Gulf
Coast and other areas hit by Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, in August
2004.
The state has seen seven hurricanes hit or pass close by since August 2004,
causing more than $20 billion in damage and killing nearly 150 people.
"People have learned their lesson and know better how to prepare. We're not
waiting until the last minute anymore," said Andrea Yerger, 48, of Port
Charlotte, Fla.
On Wednesday, tourists packed Cancun's airport even though skies were still
partly sunny, looking for flights home or to other resorts.
Mark Carara cut his family's vacation short by two days, and tried to get on
a standby flight home to Colorado.
"You hear it was the biggest storm on record, and yeah, that was the clincher
right there," he said. "It was time for us to go."
MTV postponed the Video Music Awards Latin America ceremony that was
originally scheduled for Thursday at a seaside park south of Cancun.
Heavy rain, high winds and rough seas pounded coastal areas of Honduras on
Wednesday, knocking out power to about 20 towns, cutting off roads to four
others and forcing the evacuation of coastal villages and the closure of two
Caribbean ports.
Four fishermen were reported missing at sea and about 500 U.S. and European
tourists were moved to safe locations at hotels on Honduras' Bay Islands.
The head of Haiti's civil protection agency, Maria Alta Jean-Baptiste, said
that at least 12 people had died in rain and landslides there since Monday. At
least 2,000 Haitian families had been forced from flooded homes.
Jamaica, where heavy rains have fallen since Sunday, closed almost all
schools and 350 people were living in shelters. One man died Sunday in a
rain-swollen river.
The storm was expected to dump up to 25 inches of rain in mountainous areas
of Cuba through Friday, and up to up to 15 inches in the Caymans and Jamaica
through Thursday.
Cuban authorities suspended classes in the threatened western province of
Pinar del Rio and prepared to evacuate tourists from campgrounds and low-lying
areas, according to Granma, the Communist Party daily.
Heavy rains in the island's eastern province of Granma forced the evacuations
of more than 1,000 people.
In Belize, a nation south of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, officials canceled
cruise ship visits and tourists were evacuated from keys offshore.
Wilma's confirmed pressure readings early Wednesday dropped to 882 millibars,
the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Americas,
according to the hurricane center. Lower pressure translates into higher wind
speed.
The strongest Atlantic storm on record, based on pressure readings, had been
Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which registered 888 millibars.
Wilma is the record-tying 12th hurricane of the Atlantic season, the same
number reached in 1969. Records have been kept since 1851.
On Monday, Wilma became the Atlantic hurricane season's 21st named storm,
tying the record set in 1933 and exhausting the list of names for this year.
The six-month hurricane season does not end until Nov. 30. Any new storms
would be named with letters from the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha.
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