Tourists flee hurricane

CANCUN, Mexico - Roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts today and thousands of tourists were ready to be evacuated as powerful Hurricane Wilma ploughed through the Caribbean on its way to Florida.

Cuba evacuated 100,000 people and residents of southern Florida stocked up on drinking water and gas to prepare for Wilma, which spun off the coasts of Mexico and Belize packing winds of around 230km/h.

Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous, Wilma killed 10 people in mudslides in Haiti earlier in the week.

Expensive beachfront hotels all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" coast emptied of tourists who escaped to shelters. The normally calm, turquoise Caribbean heaved and frothed.

"We are trying to stay calm but we are freaking out inside," said Kerry Rieth, a tourist from Pennsylvania in the cloud-covered resort of Cancun. Winds were strong and heavy rains were expected later in the day.

Wilma became the strongest Atlantic storm on record in terms of barometric pressure on Wednesday. It weakened to a Category 4 hurricane but was expected to strengthen again before slamming into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday.

"Believe me, this is still a very, very powerful hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

The storm was expected to miss Gulf of Mexico oil and gas facilities battered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September, but Florida's orange groves were at risk.

"This is one of the most destructive hurricanes," said Felix Gonzalez, governor of Quintana Roo state which is home to Mexico's Caribbean resorts. "We are on maximum alert."

Many residents of the area live in flimsy shacks that cannot stand up to high winds and will be moved to shelters if Wilma strikes .

The island of Cozumel, one of the world's best spots for scuba diving, faced a possible direct hit and tourists were ordered to leave. In Cancun, they took shelter at gymnasiums and schools as the storm was expected to send a 3m surge of water over the coast.

Mexican authorities said about 42,000 tourists could be evacuated from coastal areas, and airlines added flights from Cancun and nearby points on the Riviera Maya as well as Cozumel and Isla Mujeres.

Lowanda Cole, a massage therapist from Houston, said she was getting used to hurricanes after one of the most destructive seasons on record.

"We evacuated from Rita, we helped folks out with Katrina and now here we are and we have to run again. We can't get away from these things," she said in a crowded Cancun hotel lobby as she waited with her sons to be evacuated.

But some hardy local residents who have lived through many hurricanes were unfazed.

"I've been here 25 years. I'm not at all worried. My house is safe," said Jorge Moreno, a carpenter who lives in a low-cost housing project in Cancun.

At 2pm EDT (8am today NZT), Wilma was 255km southeast of Cozumel and was moving northwest.

Wilma is set to move through the Yucatan Channel and into the Gulf of Mexico early on Saturday then turn sharply northeast toward Florida. Some computer models take it farther west over the Yucatan Peninsula and then into the Gulf.

Forecasters said Wilma would strike densely populated southern Florida on Sunday local time.

Stung by criticism over a slow federal response to Katrina, President George Bush's administration said it was working with Florida officials to prepare for Wilma.

Cuba evacuated 100,000 people and was ready to move another 400,000 from low-lying areas in the west of the country.

The hurricane season has six weeks left and has already spawned three of the most intense storms on record. Hurricane experts say the Atlantic has entered a period of heightened storm activity that could last another 20 years.

- REUTERS