Hurricane Wilma’s outer edge batters Cancun beaches

HURRICANE WILMA’S outer edge battered Cancun’s white-sand beaches yesterday as officials ordered guests out of hotels, tourists jockeyed for spots on the last flights out, and tens of thousands of people from Honduras to the Florida Keys evacuated ahead of the “extremely dangerous” storm.

Wilma weakened slightly as it roared toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and south Florida after killing 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica. It was expected to reach Cancun early today, the second hurricane to hit the resort this year, following Hurricane Emily in July, before turning north-east toward Florida.

It was forecast to hit Florida's south-west coast sometime Sunday. It briefly grew into a Category 5 storm before weakening to a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph.