Hurricane Wilma destroys town

2005-10-22 18:50

Cancun - The Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen, popular with European and North American tourists, was "destroyed" by powerful Hurricane Wilma, civil defence officials said on Saturday.

The small town, south of high-rise-laden Cancun, had at least 1 000 homes seriously damaged, said Moises Ramirez, the town's civil defence chief, as Wilma's eye was just inland on the Yucatan peninsula, almost stationary, between mainland Caribbean Cancun and the island Cozumel.

Locals said it was the worst storm they could remember, as its effects dragged on over 36 hours.

"Playa is destroyed. We have water everywhere, all of the power lines are down, we are flooded all over. Playa is just not like this," the distraught official said by phone as he toured his town.

He said there were no reports of new injuries other than the seven people injured on Friday when a gas tank fell.

Although it weakened in the early hours and was downgraded to a category-three storm, Wilma packed enough punch to fell trees and tear off roofs, as tens of thousands of tourists and residents cowered in emergency shelters in Cancun.

"The water is already reaching the third floor of some hotels," said Humberto Hernandez Uzon, a spokesperson for the national weather service. "And the bad weather will continue for another 12 hours."

Quintana Roo state Governor Felix Gonzalez Canto said the storm had affected the region's infrastructure but noted with satisfaction that so far his administration was not aware of any fatalities.

The eye of the 12th hurricane of the Atlantic season was expected to remain over the peninsula on Saturday before heading slowly toward the Florida coast in the southeastern United States.

- AFP