Wilma lashes Carribbean coast

Hurricane Wilma inched toward Florida today as winds and rain continued to whip Mexico's devastated Caribbean coast.

Officials struggled to bring aid to hundreds of thousands who were cut off by the storm that killed at least seven people.

Flood waters forced tourists in hotels and shelters to climb to higher floors as Wilma ripped away store fronts and peeled back roofs in Cancun. On the island of Cozumel, a navy rescue mission spotted three bodies floating down a flooded avenue and a fourth in a town square.

After nearly two days of winds and flying debris, officials were only just starting to be able to assess Wilma's damage.

The storm had been downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph as it crawled northeast. But it was expected to pick up speed and strength, sideswiping Cuba before it whipped into Florida. The hurricane's centre was located 90 miles north of Cancun today.

President Vicente Fox planned to travel to the affected region later today, as the army and navy prepared to move in emergency supplies, including food, water, medicine and roofing.

The US Embassy was also sending consular officials to shelters, an effort to help people prepare for the evacuation of some 30,000 tourists after the storm. The US government also offered to donate £165,000 in hurricane aid.

Today could bring an additional 10 inches to 15 inches of rain to the already saturated Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The hurricane sent water surging over the narrow strip of sand housing the city's luxury hotels and bars, joining the sea with the resort's alligator-infested lagoon on Saturday.

Lobbies were gutted as waves from the open sea slammed into some low-lying hotels, Quintana Roo state Gov Felix Gonzalez said.

Cancun residents had ventured briefly from their hiding spots to survey the flooded, debris-filled streets as the eye of the storm passed over the famous resort.

Several dozen people looted at least four convenience stores, carrying out bags of canned tuna, pasta and soda, while others dragged tables, chairs and lamps from a destroyed furniture store. Police were guarding only larger stores, including a downtown Wal-Mart and an appliance store.

Yucatan Gov Patricio Patron told Formato 21 radio that one person was killed by a falling tree, but he offered no details. And in Playa del Carmen, two people died from injuries they sustained on Friday when a gas tank exploded during the storm, Quintana Roo state officials said.

The storm earlier killed 13 people in Jamaica and Haiti.

Winds continued to make reconnaissance by Mexican state and federal authorities almost impossible overnight.

"There were not a great number of injuries, given how strong a hurricane that we had," said Ricardo Portugal, director of the Mexican Red Cross in Cancun.

Quintana Roo State Civil Protection Director Maj Jose Nemecio said a few emergency crews were able to begin distributing emergency supplies in Playa del Carmen, to the south of Cancun, where winds had flattened wooden houses.

In Cancun, the wind ripped part of the ceiling off a gymnasium-turned-shelter, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 people late on Friday.

In Cuba, the government evacuated more than 560,000 people, while a tornado spun off from the storm flattened 20 homes.

In Florida, residents streamed out of the Keys and coastal communities under mandatory evacuation orders after officials posted a hurricane warning.

At the same time, weather forecasters warned of deadly flash floods and mudslides as Tropical Storm Alpha reached the Dominican Republic, where days of heavy rain have already swollen rivers and saturated the soil.

Officials used the Greek alphabet to name Tropical Storm Alpha - the record-setting 22nd named storm of the Atlantic season - after running all the way through the 2005 storm name list.