Hurricane Wilma plowed into southwest Florida early today with howling 125 mph winds and pounding waves, swamping Key West and knocking out power to millions of people as it dashed across the state toward Miami and Fort Lauderdale. At least one death in Florida was blamed on the storm.
The same storm that brought ruin over the weekend to resort towns along Mexico’s Yucatan Coast came ashore in Florida as a strong Category 3 hurricane, but within 2 1/2 hours it had weakened into a Category 2 with winds of 110 mph. It flattened trees, tore off roofs and screens, littered the streets with signs and downed power lines, and turned debris into missiles.
Gov. Jeb Bush said more than 3,000 National Guardsmen had been mobilized, and another 3,000 were on alert.
More than 33,000 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, authorities said.