Wilma's strongest winds hit southwest Fla. (AP) Updated: 2005-10-24 19:16
Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore early Monday as a strong
Category 3 storm, battering southwest Florida with 125 mph winds and pounding
waves that threatened flooding in low-lying areas.
In this National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration color-enhanced satellite image, the center of Hurricane
Wilma is shown about 70 miles southwest of Naples, Fla., at about 3:45
a.m., Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, and moving northeast towards the southwest
Florida coastline. [AP] |
Wilma made landfall at 6:30 a.m. EDT near Cape Romano, 22 miles south of
Naples in Collier County, bringing with it a potential 19-foot storm surge, the
National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extended 90 miles from the center and
tropical storm-force winds reached 230 miles, the hurricane center said. The
storm strengthen in the hours before making landfall.
More than 22,600 people were in shelters across the state. But in the
low-lying Florida Keys, not even 10 percent of the Keys' 78,000 residents
evacuated, Sheriff Richard Roth said.
That could prove to be a mistake: While Wilma did not make landfall over the
Keys, the storm could bring a surge of 8 feet to sections of the low-lying
island chain.
"They're going to be in deep trouble," warned Billy
Wagner, the senior Monroe County emergency management director. Street flooding
was reported in the Keys, while power outages were reported in both the Keys and
along the southwest side of the state.
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