Wilma threatens Florida with 110-mph winds
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-24 08:37

Gov. Bush wrote his brother, President Bush, asking that the state be granted a major disaster declaration for 14 counties ahead of the storm. Many of the areas bracing for Wilma were hit by some of the seven other hurricanes that either made landfall or brushed the state since August 2004.

The governor said state officials expected heavy rain and widespread power outages. The National Guard was on alert, and state and federal officials had trucks of ice and food ready to deploy.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was poised to send in dozens of military helicopters and 13.2 million ready-to-eat meals if needed, spokesman Butch Kinerney said.

"We're ready for Wilma and, whatever the storm brings, we're set to go," Kinerney said.

Boys with skimboards watch and wait for waves at the southern tip of Miami Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005, as Hurricane Wilma accelerated toward storm-weary Florida, threatening residents with 105-mph winds, tornadoes and a surge of seawater that could flood the Keys and the state's southwest coast. [AP]

George Delgado of Miami was still covering the windows of his house with plywood Sunday. He said he waited until the last minute to make sure the hours of work were necessary.

"I was hoping it would turn some other way," Delgado said.

At 8 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Wilma was centered about 170 miles west-southwest of Key West and moving northeast at about 15 mph. Hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extended up to 85 miles from the center and wind blowing at tropical storm-force reached outward up to 230 miles, the hurricane center said.

Weary forecasters also monitored Tropical Depression Alpha, which formed Saturday off the Dominican Republic and was briefly a tropical storm, the record 22nd named storm for the Atlantic season. It was the first time the hurricane center exhausted the regular list of names and had to turn to the Greek alphabet.

Alpha was not considered a threat to the United States.

On Florida's Gulf Coast, evacuation orders covered barrier islands and coastal areas in Collier and Lee counties, such as Fort Myers Beach, Marco Island, Sanibel and parts of Naples.

Visitors crossing the bridge into Marco Island Sunday were greeted by an electric sign that flashed, "EVACUATE, EVACUATE."

About 3,500 people were in shelters across the state, including roughly 850 people at the Germain Arena near Fort Myers, where evacuees pitched tents and placed mats on the ice rink where a minor-league hockey team plays. Cots and sleeping bags lined hallways outside the rink.

David Bright sat nearby on a chair, a Bible beside him. He's old enough to remember plenty of other hurricanes, including destructive Donna in 1960.

"I'm just doing a lot of praying that things will work out," he said. "I'm born and raised right here in Fort Myers, Fla., and just know you don't play with them."