Cancun Evacuates As Wilma Grows, Nears

[NVMojo]

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) -

Desperate tourists jockeyed for flights out of Cancun on Thursday as officials hauled thousands of visitors from luxury hotels to emergency shelters ahead of Hurricane Wilma, which forecasters said was growing stronger. Cuba evacuated more than 200,000 people.

The hurricane, which killed at least 13 people in the Caribbean, was expected to hit Cancun and sideswipe Cuba early Friday. Forecasters said it would then swing around to the northeast and charge Sunday at hurricane-weary Florida, where Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency.

Briefly the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, Wilma remained a dangerous Category 4 hurricane and was gaining strength. Its 240 150 mph winds made it more powerful than Hurricane Katrina at the time it plowed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, killing more than 1,200

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-sa/2005/oct/20/102006685.html

[Catch22Dem]

1. My sister-in-law and other family members are there...

Said all roads are closed. Won't even let people WALK inland.

[meganmonkey]

2. We have a DUer looking for some kind thoughts and support in the area:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5117434&mesg_id=5117434

[Baclava]

9. Thanks for that link

It's a scary situation.

[MarsThe Cat]

3. what about Cozumel?

i've never been to cancun- but cozumel has FANTASTIC diving- and as an island- would seem to be much more vulnerable, emergency services-wise.

[manic expression]

4. I've been there, too

hopefully the people there will be alright.

First the hurricanes in the Gulf, then in Central America, and now this? Ugh....

[HeeBGBz]

5. Cozumel will be hit hard

Plus they are talking about 40 inches of rain because it may stall or move really slowly.

[Up2Late]

7. It's going to be bad there too, here's the current "wind-field" model

<http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/tracker/dynamic/200524N_0H.html>

[Up2Late]

6. Monster Hurricane Wilma gains force in advance on Mexico (AFP)

(This is going to be really bad)

Monster Hurricane Wilma gains force in advance on Mexico

21/10/2005 00h09

CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) - Monster Hurricane Wilma is "extremely dangerous" and is gathering strength as it heads toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, US officials said. Wilma, the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, is picking up steam and is expected to roar into a category five hurricane again on the Saffir-Simpson scale by the time it makes landfall in Mexico on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.

"Wilma will have the opportunity to regain category five status before it reaches the Yucatan... and the impacts there could be catastrophic," said James Franklin in the latest NHC bulletin. Packed buses and airplanes raced tens of thousands of tourists away from Mexican Caribbean resorts Thursday amid frenzied last-minute efforts to escape the already deadly Hurricane Wilma. The Yucatan peninsula is popular among European and US tourists.

Seaside hotels in the fabled resort of Cancun have been totally evacuated and some 8,000 tourists were being housed in city shelters, the mayor's spokesman told AFP.

Most of the 33,000 visitors in Cancun at the beginning of the week have either left the Yucatan peninsula or traveled inland to ride out the storm, the spokesman said.

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051021000939.utu425g5.html>
(more at link above)

[Baclava]

8. She's a big one