Florida Next After Wilma Wreaks Havoc in Mexico

Hurricane Wilma left the north-eastern tip of Mexico's Yucatán peninsula yesterday after inflicting two days of punishing storms that devastated the area's tourist resorts and badly damaged the homes of hundreds of thousands of local people.

But despite the destructive power of the storm, the human cost appears relatively limited: tens of thousands of tourists and local residents kept safe in shelters, and initial reports put the death toll in Mexico at eight. Last week Wilma killed 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica.

Continuing on its way yesterday, Wilma was expected to skirt Cuba's western tip and hit Florida's south-west coast early today. In its wake, the storm left widespread flooding with felled trees, power lines and street signs blocking roads, and roofless and mangled petrol stations.

In the resort city of Cancún, the beachfront strip of hotel complexes was left completely under water, shop fronts disappeared and cars were submerged.

"It looks like a giant passed by kicking the entire city. Cancún is destroyed," vice-admiral Martín Fernández told El Universal newspaper, after a trip to the affected area.

Wilma made landfall on the Mexican coast on Friday morning, before inching across the peninsula at 3mph. As it advanced, it weakened from a category four to a category two storm, but dumped huge quantities of rain.

Back in open sea last night, Wilma was expected to regain strength but also to speed up, raising hopes that its passage past Cuba and over Florida would be less destructive.

As calm began to return to Mexico, locals and tourists emerged from shelters to survey a completely altered landscape.

Meanwhile, local authorities admitted they were powerless to stop looting anywhere but at the largest shopping centres.

President Vicente Fox said he would visit the scene as soon as possible, and the military promised to bring in food, water, medical kits and building materials.

After days watching Wilma wreak havoc elsewhere, Florida was bracing for the arrival of the storm today. Cuba, too, appeared ready for the onslaught, with half a million people reportedly evacuated from vulnerable areas.

Meanwhile, the 22nd named tropical storm of the Atlantic season formed over the weekend, breaking the record set in 1933. With all the pre-assigned storm names for this year used up, storm-namers have resorted to the Greek alphabet. Tropical storm Alpha struck the island of Hispaniola yesterday raising fears of mudslides and floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.