Wilma tears into Mexico's Caribbean resorts; thousands in shelters
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - After weathering hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Ronnie Croley figured he was due for a vacation.
So he flew from Madison, Mississippi, to Cancun _ where he found himself Friday trapped in the darkened lobby of a downtown hotel as Hurricane Wilma downed trees, flooded streets and sent roofs whizzing through the air.
"This was supposed to be a little break for us, but now here we are again," said Croley, 46.
The hurricane tore into the heart of Mexico's Caribbean resort strip Friday, pounding the coastline with torrential rains and shrieking winds as thousands of stranded tourists hunkered down in hotel ballrooms and emergency shelters
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Wilma officially made landfall about 3:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. EDT), with the center of the storm's eye hitting the island of Cozumel, a popular cruise-ship stop.
The fearsome Category 4 storm, which killed 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica, was expected to pummel the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula for two days, sparking fears of catastrophic damage. It is forecast to sideswipe Cuba before bearing down on Florida on Monday.
"Tin roofing is flying through the air everywhere. Palm trees are falling down. Signs are in the air and cables are snapping," Julio Torres told The Associated Press by telephone from the Red Cross office in Cozumel.
"Not even emergency vehicles have been able to go out on the streets, because the winds are too strong."
The wind bent palm trees and the surf washed away tiki huts on hotel beaches. Power was cut early Friday to most parts of Cancun _ a standard safety precaution.
Shop windows were shattered, cars were crushed under fallen trees and pay phones jutted from waist-deep floodwaters in the famed hotel zone.
Officials evacuated loaded more than 1,000 people into buses and vans after a downtown cultural center being used as a temporary shelter suddenly became uninhabitable, Cancun Red Cross director Ricardo Portugal said without elaborating.
At the same time, Wilma's outer bands pounded western Cuba, where the government evacuated nearly 370,000 people. Forecasters said Wilma could bring more than 3 feet of rain to parts of Cuba.
Waves of up to 21 feet crashed on the extreme westernmost tip of Cuba and heavy rains cut off several small communities. About 7,000 residents were evacuated from the coastal fishing village of La Coloma in Cuba's southern Pinar del Rio province.
"We thought we'd be spending a lot less time here," Maria Elena Torre said at a shelter set up inside a boarding school. "Now we have no idea how long we'll be here."
Civil defense official Adolfo Nilo Moreno said the 725 evacuees at the school were likely to remain in place until Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Luckily, we have enough food for four months," primarily rice, chicken, bread and milk, he said.
In Florida, emergency officials on Friday issued evacuation orders for the west coast town of Naples and a nearby island, which the storm was expected to reach Monday. Florida Keys residents also were asked to leave.
At 5 p.m. EDT, Wilma's winds were at 140 mph _ down slightly from 145 mph a few hours earlier _ as the storm made landfall on Cozumel, the hurricane center said. The hurricane was about 430 miles southwest of Key West, Fla., and was moving northwest at about 5 mph.
Wilma will likely linger over the Yucatan for a few days, which should weaken the hurricane's top sustained winds from 140 mph to Category 3 strength or lower.
"It's going to be a long couple of days here for the Yucatan Peninsula," hurricane center director Max Mayfield said.
No injuries were reported as the hurricane moved in. Portugal said the biggest problem so far had been "nervous crises," and 11 pregnant women were ferried to hospitals because of worries the storm had induced labor.
Mexican officials said about 20,000 tourists were at shelters and hotels on the mainland south of Cancun, and an estimated 10,000-12,000 were in Cancun itself. About 50 hotels there were evacuated.
Hotels being used as shelters pushed furniture up against windows that were not boarded up, and some people slept under plastic sheeting to protect them from dripping roofs.
Juan Luis Flores, an emergency services official in Quintana Roo state, said about 65,000 people were evacuated. Mexico's civil defense chief, Carmen Segura, assured people "their families are protected as they should be."
But instead of luxury hotel suites over a turquoise sea, many tourists found themselves sleeping on the floors of hotel ballrooms, schools and gymnasiums reeking of sweat because there was no power or air conditioning.
Scott and Jamie Stout of Willisville, Ill., were spending their honeymoon on a Cancun basketball court with a leaky roof.
"After one more day of this, I believe people will start getting cranky," said Scott Stout, 26. "Things could get messy."
The Stouts, at least, had food and coffee. Devon Anderson, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., was sharing 10 rooms at a rundown Cozumel school with 200 other Americans.
"We are all sleeping on the floor," Anderson said. "There's no food, no water."
At the Xbalamque Hotel, a downtown Cancun shelter for evacuees from beachfront resorts, American tourist Becky Hora, 37, watched floodwaters rise up the steps toward the lobby as winds howled and trees thudded to the ground.
"It's awful," she said. "I thought that last night we had made it through the worst of it. And now it turns out this is only the beginning. It's hard to stay calm."
Wilma briefly strengthened to Category 5 and became the most intense hurricane recorded in the Atlantic Ocean with 882 millibars of pressure, breaking the record low of 888 set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Lower pressure brings faster winds.
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Associated Press reporter Vanessa Arrington in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and David Royse in Key West, Fla., contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov