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Wilma now most intense Atlantic storm ever
Updated: 2005-10-19 21:32
With heavy rain, high wind, and rough seas already pounding coastal areas,
flood-prone Honduras warned that Wilma posed "an imminent threat to life and
property" and closed two seaports on its Caribbean coast. Neighboring Nicaragua
also declared an alert. Authorities in the Cayman Islands had earlier called an
alert.
Honduras and its neighbors already are recovering from flooding and mudslides
caused earlier this month from storms related to Hurricane Stan. At least 796
people were killed, most of them in Guatemala, with many more still missing.
Cuba issued a hurricane watch for the western end of the island from Matanzas
to Pinar del Rio, as well as the Isle of Youth. Mexico issued a hurricane watch
for nearly all of its Caribbean coast from Punta Gruesa to Cabo Catoche, an area
that includes the resort of Cancun.
Wilma already had been blamed for one death in Jamaica as
a tropical depression Sunday. It has flooded several low-lying communities and
triggered mudslides that blocked roads and damaged several homes, said Barbara
Carby, head of Jamaica's emergency management office. She said that some 250
people were in shelters throughout the island.
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