"Wilma will have the opportunity to regain category five status before it reaches the Yucatan... and the impacts there could be catastrophic," said James Franklin in the latest NHC bulletin.

Packed buses and airplanes raced tens of thousands of tourists away from Mexican Caribbean resorts Thursday amid frenzied last-minute efforts to escape the already deadly Hurricane Wilma. The Yucatan peninsula is popular among European and US tourists.

Seaside hotels in the fabled resort of Cancun have been totally evacuated and some 8,000 tourists were being housed in city shelters, the mayor's spokesman told AFP.

Most of the 33,000 visitors in Cancun at the beginning of the week have either left the Yucatan peninsula or traveled inland to ride out the storm, the spokesman said.

A usually crowded nightclub, Mr Froggs, was draped in a banner reading "Wilma, you are not invited to our party."

At the airport, emergency messages blared out in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and the local indigenous Maya language before authorities shut down operations at 5:00 pm. The airport will remain closed Friday, an airport spokesman, Eduardo Rivadeneyra, told AFP.

A 33-year-old Mexican woman was electrocuted and killed in Cancun as she readied for the arrival of the storm, authorities said. "It was an unfortunate contact with a high-tension wire that caused the woman's death," said Felix Canun, a spokesman for the city of Benito Juarez, which includes the resort area.

At 2100 GMT the center of the gigantic storm was located about 220 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, the Miami-based NHC said.

The storm is moving northwest at nearly nine kilometers (six miles) per hour packing top sustained winds near 240 kph (150 mph), with higher gusts.

Wilma currently is a category four but is expected to strengthen during the next 24 hours "and Wilma could regain category five strength as it approaches the Yucatan tonight," the center said.

The NHC has warned the Yucatan peninsula to expect "storm surge flooding of 7-10 feet (2.1-3.0 meters) above normal tide levels" near and to the north of where Wilma makes landfall.

Forecasters expect Wilma to make a sharp turn to the east towards Florida, though its arrival date is uncertain.

"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of extremely dangerous Hurricane Wilma," the NHC said.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency as Wilma appears to threaten the southeastern US state, but authorities in the Florida Keys island chain postponed mandatory evacuations by a day after the storm's potential arrival was pushed back to next week.

Wilma is the 12th full-blown hurricane of the Atlantic season, and a series of storms have left thousands dead in Central America and along the US Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,200 people on the US Gulf Coast after it struck on August 29, and Hurricane Stan left more than 2,000 dead or missing in Guatemala earlier this month. Dozens more were killed by the storm in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico.

Mexican President Vicente Fox, calling Wilma "very powerful and very threatening," emphasized that authorities were prepared for its impact.

Evacuations continued as authorities in five Mexican cities declared a state of emergency and set up hundreds of emergency shelters.

Ferries had taken tourists off Isla Mujeres, north of Cancun, while authorities on the island and in Benito Juarez, Solidaridad, Cozumel and Lazaro Cardenas declared an emergency and established 1,154 shelters, officials said.

In Cuba, evacuations of 230,000 people from coastal and low-lying areas in the west were under way, and tourists in resort areas such as Cayo Largo del Sur, Maria la Gorda and Cayo Levisa, were transferred to areas considered safe in Havana or inland cities.

Cuban authorities suspended flights to Cancun and to two interior regions of the island in preparation for the storm's arrival.

Widespread flooding and landslides were reported in Jamaica from rainfall sparked by the hurricane, and as much as 40 inches (one meter) of rain was expected to drench mountainous areas of Cuba through Friday, US forecasters said.

related report
Tourists flee as woeful Wilma roars toward Mexican resorts

Cancun, Mexico (AFP) Oct 20 -- Packed buses raced thousands of tourists away from Mexican Caribbean resorts Thursday amid frenzied last-minute efforts to escape an expected wallop from Hurricane Wilma.

Though the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic has lost some strength, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it remained a dangerous category four hurricane on the five level Saffir-Simpson scale.

Tens of thousands of holidaymakers cut short their vacations along the sun-bathed Yucatan coastline here and fled for airports or inland shelters before the storm makes a forecast hit. The peninsula is very popular among European and US tourists.

A 33-year-old Mexican woman was electrocuted and killed in Cancun as she readied for the arrival of the storm, authorities said. "It was an unfortunate contact with a high-tension wire that caused the woman's death," said Felix Canun, a spokesman for the city of Benito Juarez, which includes the resort area.

At the airport, emergency messages blared out in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and the local indigenous Maya language.

A usually crowded nightclub, Mr. Froggs, was draped in a banner reading "Wilma, you are not invited to our party."

At 1800 GMT the center of hurricane Wilma was located about 255 kilometers (160 miles) south-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, the NHC in Miami said.

The storm is moving northwest near seven kilometers (five miles) per hour packing top sustained winds near 230 kph (145 mph) with higher gusts.

Wilma was expected to lash the peninsula on Friday before heading for the Florida coast in the United States.

"The storm is very powerful and very threatening," said Mexican President Vicente Fox, adding that authorities were prepared for its impact.

Evacuations continued as authorities in five cities declared a state of emergency and set up hundreds of emergency shelters.

Ferries took tourists off Isla Mujeres, north of Cancun, into the early-morning hours, while authorities on the island and in Benito Juarez, Solidaridad, Cozumel and Lazaro Cardenas declared an emergency and established 1,154 shelters, officials said.

Cuba has started to evacuate 230,000 people from coastal and low-lying areas in the west, and tourists in resort areas such as Cayo Largo del Sur, Maria la Gorda and Cayo Levisa, were transferred to areas considered safe in Havana or inland cities.

Across the Florida straits officials have also initiated evacuations of the Florida Keys island chain.

The NHC has warned the Yucatan peninsula to expect "storm surge flooding of 7-10 feet (2.1-3.0 meters) above normal tide levels" near and to the north of where Wilma makes landfall.

Forecasters expect Wilma to make a sharp turn to the north towards Florida, though its arrival date is now uncertain.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency as Wilma appears to threaten the southeastern US state, but authorities in the Florida Keys island chain postponed mandatory evacuations by a day after the storm's potential arrival was pushed back to next week.

Robert Taylor, a 14-year Naples, Florida resident buying plywood at a Home Depot store to help a friend board up rental units, was jittery. "In the past, Naples has been Teflon-coated. We'll just have to wait and see." Plywood at the store was selling out fast, as were water, batteries and emergency generators.

At least 11 people have been killed in flooding after two weeks of torrential rainfall in much of Haiti, but authorities made no immediate link to Wilma.

Widespread flooding and landslides were reported in Jamaica from rainfall sparked by the hurricane, and as much as 40 inches (one meter) of rain was expected to drench mountainous areas of Cuba through Friday, US forecasters said.

It is the 12th full-blown hurricane of the Atlantic season, and a series of storms have left thousands dead in Central America and along the US Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,200 people on the US Gulf Coast after it struck on August 29, and Hurricane Stan left more than 2,000 dead or missing in Guatemala earlier this month. Dozens more were killed by the storm in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico.

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