Wilma now 'strongest hurricane'
2005-10-19 15:18
Miami - Hurricane Wilma, which swelled into an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 storm early on Wednesday, is the strongest hurricane ever recorded, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
The hurricane's barometric pressure, 882 millibars, was "the lowest pressure on record for a hurricane in the Atlantic basin," the center said - and the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.
At 12:00, winds at the centre of the storm were clocked at 280km /h per hour.
The hurricane was located about 550km southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and was creeping west-northwest toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, but it was expected to change course within 24 hours.
- AFP