HURRICANE Wilma has furiously cut across Florida, killing one person and leaving more than three million homes without power after churning huge waves that flooded Cuba’s capital Havana.
The storm killed at least 10 people in its violent passage through Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula over the weekend, where tens of thousands of American, European and Australian tourists were forced to flee resorts or hide in shelters.
In Florida, police said a man was killed after being pinned by a falling tree north of Miami.
In Cuba, four people, including three foreign tourists, were killed in a bus accident as they evacuated Friday before the storm slammed the island.
Wilma slashed across Florida as a Category Two storm in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale before regaining strength just off the Atlantic coast, where it grew into a Category Three hurricane, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC).
The hurricane was “racing” northeast away from Florida, blowing winds of 195km/h, according to the NHC’s advisory.
The storm left about 3.2 million homes without power in southeast Florida, affecting some six million people, according to Florida Power and Light.
It will take weeks to restore power to all customers, the company said.
Governor Jeb Bush had urged residents who missed the chance to flee to ride out the raging storm indoors.
“Just stay in your homes until the storm has passed,” he said.
The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, David Paulison, urged those who evacuated to wait until authorities gave them the green light to go home.
“Please, please don’t go back until the local emergency managers tell you it’s safe to go back,” Mr Paulison said.
But many had ignored the evacuation calls in the southwest city of Naples and in the Florida Keys island chain south of Florida.
“If you did not evacuate, stay inside until everything is safe. Make sure the winds die down because we get more injuries after the storm than during the storm,” Mr Paulison said.
“We want you to just be careful.”
Jeb Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, declared a major disaster in Florida, releasing federal funds to supplement state and local recovery efforts, and that emergency aid was ready to be deployed.
“We have pre-positioned food, medicine, communications equipment, urban search and rescue teams,” Mr Bush said.
Mr Bush was keen to show the Government was well-prepared for the disaster after his administration was heavily criticized for its slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which claimed more than 1200 lives after it struck the southern US coast on August 29.
The Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, where the space shuttle has been launched, shut down and told employees to stay home.
Wilma could add as much as $US10 billion ($13.3 billion) to US insurance companies’ already-hefty hurricane bill, insurance estimators said.
South of the Florida Keys in Cuba, Havana residents woke up to inundated streets as seawater was washed into parts of the city.
Western regions of the Caribbean island also suffered serious flooding, with some residents saying it was the worst storm to hit the island in 12 years.
“I’m terrified, this was apocalyptic and the worst is yet to come,” said Olga Salinas, 58, trapped on the second floor of her house in the flooded Miramar district of Havana.
In Mexico, the death toll rose to 10 after Wilma slammed the Yucatan peninsula.
Some 250 police and troops patrolled the streets of Cancun to deter looters who had taken advantage of the natural disaster a day earlier.
Authorities fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse looters overnight, a municipal official said.
A curfew was put in place yesterday.
At 2100 GMT (7.00am today AEST), Wilma was about 290 km north of the Bahamas, according to the NHC.
The hurricane was moving at 59 km/h and was expected to accelerate in the next 24 hours.
Hurricane warnings were dropped in Florida, although some parts were still being hit by gale force winds, the centre said.
A hurricane warning was still in effect in the northwestern Bahamas.
By Jerome Bernard and correspondents in Naples, Florida
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au
