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Wilma hammers Florida mainland
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-24 22:09

Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore in southwest Florida and roared across the peninsula, pounding Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on Monday after slamming Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and killing 17 people in the Caribbean.


A general view of a store after Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun in Mexico's state of Quintana Roo October 23, 2005. [Reuters]

Once the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic, Wilma weakened after hammering Cancun and Cozumel for three days with punishing winds and rains but revved up as it reached Florida with top sustained winds of 125 mph (200 kph).

Wilma's powerful core struck the Florida mainland before dawn on the west coast near Naples, blasting beach sand across coastal roads, shredding power lines and bending palm trees. It hit as a Category 3 storm on the five-stage hurricane intensity scale, capable of causing significant damage.

"The rain is coming down sideways. We've had a handful of tornadoes," said Jaime Sarbaugh, an emergency management spokeswoman for Collier County, where Wilma made landfall. "We're still in the middle of this hurricane so we're not sending anyone out right now."

The sprawling storm, about 400 miles across, covered much of the Florida peninsula and some of its strongest winds whipped Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, the state's most populous area with about 5 million people.

More than 315,000 Florida Power & Light customers, or more than 630,000 people, were without power, the utility said.

Forecasters said Wilma could prove to be the strongest storm in Miami since Hurricane Andrew caused more than $25 billion in damage in August 1992.

Before hitting the mainland, Wilma's eye roared just north of Key West, the popular tourist island at the end of the 110-mile (175-km) Florida Keys island chain.
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