Wilma breaks Atlantic storm records

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”.

Wilma was dumping rain on Central America and Mexico. A hurricane watch was in effect for the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, parts of Cuba and the Cayman Islands, and forecasters warned of a “significant threat” to Florida by the weekend.

Wilma’s top sustained winds reached 175mph early yesterday in the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane, said meteorologist Hugh Cobb of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

At the same time on Tuesday, Wilma was only a tropical storm with winds of 70mph.

Its confirmed pressure readings yesterday morning dropped to 882 millibars - the lowest ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin, according to the hurricane centre. The strongest of all was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which dipped to 888 millibars.

Typically, the lower the pressure, the faster the air speeds. But because the pressure around each storm is different, lower pressure doesn’t always correspond to a specific wind speed.

Forecasters said Wilma was more powerful than the devastating September 1935 hurricane that hit the Florida Keys, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record. But Wilma wasn’t expected to keep its record strength for long, as higher disruptive atmospheric winds should weaken it before landfall.

The storm may dump up to 25 inches of rain in mountainous areas of Cuba and as much as 15 inches in the Caymans and Jamaica. Up to 12 inches was possible from Honduras through the Yucatan peninsula.

Jamaica, Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras were getting heavy rain from the storm, though it wasn’t likely to make landfall in any of those countries. Forecasts showed it would likely turn toward the narrow Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region - then move into the storm-weary gulf.

Honduras and its neighbours already are recovering from flooding and mudslides caused earlier this month from storms related to Hurricane Stan. At least 796 people were killed, most in Guatemala.

Wilma already had been blamed for one death in Jamaica as a tropical depression on 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.

Although the storm was not expected to approach Florida until the weekend, some residents began buying water, canned food and other emergency supplies early. Many said they take every storm seriously now, after witnessing the devastation from a succession of hurricanes that have ravaged the southern United States.

“People have learned their lesson and know better how to prepare. We’re not waiting until the last minute anymore,” said Andrea Yerger, 48, of Port Charlotte. She was buying material to protect her house, which had to be gutted because of Hurricane Charley last year.