HURRICANE Wilma turned into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded yesterday, a Category 5 monster packing 175mph wind that forecasters warned was “extremely dangerous”.

Hurricane Wilma, the most intense storm to form in the Americas, lashed the coasts of Central America and Caribbean islands today as it lumbered toward Mexico’s Cancun resort and Florida.

Monroe County officials have ordered visitors out of Florida Keys ahead of Hurricane Wilma, the first US evacuations caused by the Category 5 storm.

Wilma, the record-equalling 12th hurricane of the Atlantic season, is poised to become a major category four storm as it steams along a track that will take it past Central America, Cancun, Cuba and eventually into Florida.

Around half a million people were urged to evacuate their homes in coastal areas of Jamaica today as Hurricane Ivan bore down creating panic in its projected path.