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Wilma: Cancun a 'ghost town'
21/10/2005 20:35 - (SA)
Cancun - Hurricane Wilma, closing in on Cancun, has turned the popular resort city into a ghost town, as thousands of tourists who did not evacuate were whisked from luxurious, air-conditioned seaside hotels to hot, crowded emergency shelters.
The slow-moving monster system, a category four on the five-level Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, was due to hit the Yucatan peninsula soon.
After frantic preparations earlier, evacuating thousands of tourists, boarding up windows and shuttering businesses, small groups of locals rushed around early on Friday trying to gather last-minute supplies, defying officials' order that they stay inside.
In the best-known Cancun area of Benito Juarez, the scream of the wind was the only sound to be heard. Powerful crashing waves had already eaten away at much of the white sand beach that lures so many tourists from Canada, the United States and Europe.
Between Wednesday and Thursday more than 20 000 tourists fled Cancun by sea and air.
The biggest shelter was at the Cuxin Baxal sports complex, where about 2 500 tourists traded bikinis and sunscreen for pillows, blankets and a seat on the wooden bleachers beside a basketball court.
"We only brought the little mattresses and the hotel sent over its workers to take care of the guests, as well as free food and drinks," said Victor Hugo Garcia, the shelter director from the city's civil defense office.
While the bleachers and floor were crowded with blankets, mattresses and personal belongings, a space was set up for chefs - complete with white hat - who were preparing food next to a large display of fruit.
In the neighbouring district of Solidaridad, where the Riviera Maya is located, more than 29 000 tourists, most of them European, have been taken to shelters
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