Hurricane pummels Fla. coasts

EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. -- Hurricane Wilma slammed into southwest Florida yesterday with ferocious 125-mile-per-hour winds, flooding low-lying coastal areas, spawning tornadoes, and knocking out power to millions as the storm raced across the state and into the Atlantic Ocean.

At least six deaths in Florida were attributed to Wilma, which made landfall about 6:30 a.m. near Cape Romano, 22 miles south of Naples, as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm quickly diminished to a Category 2 as it dashed unobstructed across the flat Florida landscape toward Fort Lauderdale and Miami, where a gust of 104 miles per hour was recorded.

After buffeting both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida simultaneously with its swirling winds, Wilma intensified once again to Category 3 as it roared into the Atlantic and headed northeast at about 25 miles per hour. By early tomorrow, the hurricane is expected to have passed far off the coast of Massachusetts.

Twenty-five deaths have been linked to Wilma, including six in Mexico and 13 in Jamaica and Haiti, as the hurricane made a slow trek before sprinting across the Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula over the weekend to pummel Florida. At one point while at sea, it was the most intense storm in recorded meteorologic history -- based on internal barometric pressure -- in the Atlantic basin.

The hurricane knocked out power for an estimated 3.2 million households across Florida, nearly four times the number that lost electricity during Hurricane Charley last year, according to Florida Power & Light officials.

''Wilma wasn't as powerful as Charley, but it covered a lot larger area," said Grover Whidder, a Florida Power & Light spokesman. Power might not be restored for two weeks in some locations, utility officials said.

In Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Miami Beach, the storm blew countless windows out of high-rises. Near Melbourne, 200 miles from where Wilma landed, a tornado caused by the storm damaged an apartment complex.

Governor Jeb Bush, in a news briefing in Naples, described the initial post-storm assessments as ''relatively good news," despite his earlier prediction that damage would be found from coast to coast across South Florida. Still, he said, destruction was ''pretty widespread."

President Bush issued an emergency disaster declaration for the three southernmost counties on the Gulf coast of Florida and pledged swift relief.

In one of those counties, Monroe, a majority of the residents of the Keys did not follow a mandatory evacuation order. But compliance was much higher on Marco Island, Sanibel Island, and Fort Myers Beach in the two adjoining counties to the north, local officials said.

One of the Florida deaths occurred in Coral Springs, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, where a tree fell and struck a man.

Another man in a rural part of Collier County, where Naples is located, died when his roof collapsed.

In Palm Beach County, a man was killed when flying debris slammed him into the windshield of his van. In St. Johns County, a coastal area in the northeastern part of the state, an 83-year-old woman died in a car crash while evacuating.

Hundreds of roads throughout southwest Florida were rendered impassable by water and downed trees. The hurricane's storm surge flooded much of Key West and all of Everglades City, an isolated coastal enclave of 500 about 20 miles south of where Wilma made landfall.

''This is the worst flooding I've ever seen here," said Ervin Stokes, who drove a pickup through hip-deep water toward the gasoline station he owns in Everglades City. ''I'm just checking on my business to see if anything's left."

All the streets in Everglades City yesterday morning lay under 2 to 3 feet of seawater that had poured in from the Gulf of Mexico. At the two-story home of Wesley and Shannon Mitchell, 16 neighbors who had accepted the family's offer of shelter ventured outside as the skies brightened.

''I thought the hurricane was right here with us," said Tiffany Burgess, 15, who had stayed with the Mitchells. ''The house was shaking. I was scared."

''My wife prayed over this place last night," Wesley said of his undamaged home, gazing at a wind-rippled lake that had been his front yard. ''We consider it a blessing from God."

Bush praised coastal residents from Collier County who had heeded a mandatory evacuation order for the eighth hurricane to hit Florida in 15 months. But he criticized residents of the Florida Keys, where Sheriff Richard Roth said fewer than 10 percent had evacuated to the mainland before the storm.

''Too many people stayed, and for the life of me, I do not understand why," Bush said.

About 35 percent of Key West was flooded by a 9-foot storm surge, including the airport, said Jay Gewin, an assistant to the city's mayor.

The only highway connection to the island, US 1, had been severed by flooding, and no traffic was heading in or out of the city. Wilma prompted the fourth hurricane evacuation order for the Keys this year.

More than 33,000 people sought refuge in shelters across the state, including residents with special medical needs who were attended by doctors, nurses, and emergency medical technicians.

Outside the shelters, many residents who remained behind spent the storm's soggy aftermath in cramped motel lobbies, snacking on stale bagels and cold coffee amid the dull glow of battery-powered lanterns.

The state of Florida mobilized 3,000 National Guard troops and placed another 3,000 on alert. State and federal officials had trucks of ice and food ready, and FEMA was prepared to deploy dozens of military helicopters and distribute 13.2 million ready-to-eat meals.

In Naples, large banyan trees lay toppled over nearly all secondary streets in residential neighborhoods. Traffic signals weaved crazily in the strong winds that continued to buffet the city hours after the hurricane's eye had passed. Roofing tiles twisted in the air as they were pulled upward by gusts reaching 125 miles per hour.

Mayor Bill Barnett prohibited residents from returning to Naples before 7 a.m. today, as emergency crews cut up trees with chain saws, utility workers sought to restore power intersection by intersection, and police patrolled the downtown shopping district to prevent looting.

''We have no water, no electricity," Barnett said. ''We have power lines [down] from one end of the city to the other."

Police Chief Steve Moore estimated that some roads might not be cleared for weeks.

In Fort Myers, Mayor Bill Van Duzer reopened Town Hall just before noon and declared the damage to be comparatively light.

''It could have been much worse," Van Duzer said. ''I see a lot of roofs and awnings, things like that, blown off, but I haven't see any total destruction."

Residents on nearby Sanibel Island were not allowed to return to their homes immediately. Police stopped them at the bridge from Fort Myers, allowing only what they deemed essential workers back until the roads were declared safe. ''I've been at a hotel that's got no food, no water, no nothing," said Larry Schopp after being turned away. ''Everybody I talked to in Sanibel said there's really no problem there."

Geoff Edgers of the Globe staff contributed to this report from Fort Myers, Fla. Material from the Associated Press also was used.