FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Hurricane Wilma knifed through Florida with winds up to 125 mph Monday, shattering windows in skyscrapers, peeling away roofs and knocking out power to 6 million people.
At least six deaths were blamed on the hurricane in Florida, bringing the storm’s total toll to 25.
Wilma made a swift seven-hour dash across lower Florida, from its southwestern corner to heavily populated Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic coast.
“We have been huddled in the living room trying to stay away from the windows. It got pretty violent there for a while,” said 25-year-old Eddie Kenny, who was at his parents’ home in Plantation near Fort Lauderdale.
The insurance industry estimated insured losses in Florida at anywhere from $2 billion to $9 billion.
The 21st storm of the 2005 season – and the eighth hurricane to hit Florida in 15 months – howled ashore around daybreak just south of Marco Island as a Category 3. A tidal surge of up to 9 feet swamped parts of Key West in chest-high water, and U.S. 1, the only highway to the mainland, was flooded.
“A bunch of us that are the old-time Key Westers are kind of waking up this morning, going, ‘Well, maybe I should have paid a little more attention,’” said restaurant owner Amy Culver-Aversa, among the 90 percent of Key West residents who chose to ignore the fourth mandatory evacuation order this year.
As it moved across the state, Wilma weakened to a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph. But it was still powerful enough to flatten trees, flood streets, break water mains, knock down signs, turn debris into missiles and light up the sky with the blue-green flash of popping transformers.
By early afternoon, Wilma had swirled out into the open Atlantic, back up to 115-mph Category 3 strength but on a course unlikely to have much effect on the East Coast. Forecasters predicted it would stay well offshore.
Wilma brought 8 inches of rain to Miami-Dade County, nearly 61/2 to Naples and 3 to Fort Lauderdale.
More than one-third of the state’s residents lost power. Florida Power &Light, the state’s biggest utility, said it could take weeks to restore electricity to everyone.
All three of south Florida’s major airports – Miami International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach – were closed at least until today.
In Mexico, soldiers and federal police took to Cancun’s streets Monday to prevent further theft, and President Vicente Fox announced plans to start evacuating 30,000 frazzled tourists.
Wilma killed at least six people in Mexico and 13 others in Jamaica and Haiti as it made is way across the Caribbean.
Electricity was reported out in much of the city, and the president estimated it would take a week to restore power.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in Cuba.
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