Six dead as Wilma batters Mexico
At least six people have died as Hurricane Wilma lingers over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Reuters reports.
Two deaths been reported on the island on the island of Cozumel, and one person died in Cancun when a gust of wind blew out a window.
In the resort town of Playa del Carmen, two people died when a gas tank exploded, while to the west of the Yucatan Peninsula, a large tree branch crushed a man to death.
The slow-moving storm has sent waves as high as the third storey of some hotels in the resort of Cancun, wiped out electricity supplies and flattened hundreds of homes.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists and residents are waiting out the storm in packed shelters, with many forced to move to higher floors as waves rolled in.
Playa del Carmen has been badly hit, the town’s civil defence chief Moises Ramirez told the AFP news agency.
“Playa is destroyed,” he said. “We have water everywhere, all of the power lines are down, we are flooded all over. Playa is just not like this.”
More: dehavilland.co.uk
Six dead as Wilma pounds Mexico
At least six people have died as Hurricane Wilma continues to pound the coast of Mexico.
The storm has flooded the resort of Cancun, cutting off roads, flattening homes and leaving much of the area without electricity.
Tens of thousands of people are now sheltering in overcrowded schools and gymnasiums in the area.
Weather forecasters say Wilma has weakened, but might get stronger again as it slowly heads towards Florida.
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On Saturday officials on the Florida Keys ordered 80,000 people to evacuate the islands before the storm
Turmoil batters Mexico tourism
A human head washes up on an Acapulco beach. Protestors hassle visitors at makeshift checkpoints in the colonial city of Oaxaca. And in Mexico City, leftist demonstrators turn the tourist draws of Reforma Ave. and the Zocalo plaza into sprawling, ragtag protest camps.
Growing political unrest and drug violence are making foreigners think twice about visiting Mexico, where the $11.8 billion (U.S.) tourism industry is the countrys third-largest legal source of income, after oil and remittances from migrants in the United States.
Mexico has been struggling since last fall, when Hurricane Wilma hit the countrys biggest tourism
Wilma slams Mexico, threatens Florida
In the early afternoon on Friday, Oct. 21, 2005, Hurricane Wilma was moving slowly northwest with the eye 35 miles off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula. The Category 4 hurricane is currently packing 145 mph winds with higher-speed gusts. Wilma is expected to turn northeast toward southern Florida while dropping as much as 40 inches of rain in parts of Cuba along the way.
With Wilma, the Atlantic Ocean's 21st named storm this year, the 2005 season has tied the record for the most named storms in a year. Pressure readings on
Hurricane Wilma Scrubs Mexico's MTV Awards
Hurricane Wilma Forces MTV to Postpone Latin American Music Awards; New Date Not Set
The approach of Hurricane Wilma has forced MTV to postpone its Latin American music video awards ceremony, which had been scheduled for Mexico's Playa del Carmen resort.
Dulce Gordillo, MTV's Mexico spokeswoman, confirmed the postponement and said a new date for the show hadn't been set.
The cable network had shifted the program from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid the hurricane, which was forecast to pass close by Mexico's Caribbean coast Friday.
More: abcnews.go.com
In the early afternoon on Friday, Oct. 21, 2005, Hurricane Wilma was moving slowly northwest with the eye 35 miles off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula. The Category 4 hurricane is currently packing 145 mph winds with higher-speed gusts. Wilma is expected to turn northeast toward southern Florida while dropping as much as 40 inches of rain in parts of Cuba along the way.
With Wilma, the Atlantic Ocean's 21st named storm this year, the 2005 season has tied the record for the most named storms in a year. Pressure readings on Wednesday broke the record
Mexico evacuations begin as Wilma closes in
Mexico has begun evacuations on Wednesday of high risk areas of the Yucatan peninsula, a major tourist draw, as powerful Hurricane Wilma churned closer.
The island of Mujeres close to the holiday resort of Cancun, was believed to be one of the most at risk of being targeted by Wilma, the most powerful storm recorded in the Atlantic.
"Some of the computer models are showing it getting closer and closer to the peninsula, and we may be facing a potential landfall in some areas of the northeast of the Yucatan, in the area of Isla Mujeres,"
TUI cancels trips to Mexico due to Hurricane Wilma, 300 customers affected
TUI AG said it has cancelled all trips to Yucatan, Mexico, until Oct 25 on account of Hurricane Wilma, affecting 300 customers.
It said it will try to offer its customers alternative destinations.
The tour operator currently has around 1,000 guests in Mexico, who will be transported back to Germany as soon as weather conditions allow.
Source: forbes.com
Hurricane Wilma heads for Gulf of Mexico
Hurricane Wilma strengthened in the Caribbean Tuesday and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it seemed likely to spare battered U.S. oil and gas fields but threatened storm-weary Florida.
The rapidly intensifying storm also menaced Honduras and Nicaragua with up to 10 inches of rain, compounding the woes of Central America. More than 1,000 people in Guatemala and El Salvador were killed by landslides and floods triggered by Hurricane Stan this month.
Wilma was expected to strengthen into a major hurricane with winds of more than 110 mph by Thursday and its likely
Wilma may become hurricane, heads for Gulf of Mexico
Four of seven major weather models predict Tropical Storm Wilma, which could become a hurricane by Tuesday, will head for the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Earlier Monday morning, most of the models forecast the storm would crash into the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico or Belize later this week.
By late morning, most of the forecasts showed the storm would turn north toward western Cuba and Florida's Gulf Coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center still forecast the storm would graze the northeastern tip of the Yucatan and enter the Gulf of Mexico where it could
UPDATE 4-Tourists flee huge Hurricane Wilma in Mexico
Roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts on Thursday 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 145 mph (230 kph).
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
