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Wilma lashes Caribbean coastlines; 13 die
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-20 08:31 John Hyndman, a 59-year-old electrician from Ottawa said his hotel had asked
guests to leave. "I think people are more panicked just about what a hurricane
can do," he said. "It can be very scary."
Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, announced that hundreds of
schools would be closed Thursday and Friday, and many will be prepared to serve
as shelters for expected evacuations.
Floridians braced for the storm by boarding up windows and stocking up on
supplies, although forecasters at the hurricane center said the forward motion
of the storm appeared to be slowing, which could cause it to eventually weaken.
This image provided by NOAA taken on
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 at 4:26 pm EDT shows Hurricane
Wilma.[AP] | Predictions differed on the
hurricane's path and how strong it would be when it reaches U.S. shores. Though
some weakening was expected by Thursday, the "potential for large loss of life
is with us," said Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. hurricane center.
"This is one of those cases where we have a tremendous amount of
uncertainty," said Mayfield. Referring to Wilma's explosive two-day growth from
a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane, Mayfield said "this is one of the
most perplexing storms we have had to deal with" this year.
At 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Wilma was centered about 285 miles southeast of
Mexico's Cozumel island and about 465 miles south-southwest of Key West. It was
moving west-northwest near 7 mph.
Wilma's record-level intensity was measured in its pressure. Confirmed
pressure readings early Wednesday dropped to 882 millibars, the lowest minimum
pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Americas, but it later lost power
and rose to 900 millibars, 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.
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