Mexico picks up after Wilma

Hurricane Wilma slammed into the coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula this past weekend with a force never before seen, according to many residents here.

"It hurts my heart to see this kind of damage," says Saul Sanchez Rodriguez, a doctor. "It will take weeks and months to pull ourselves together now."

"Hurricane Gilbert really hurt us bad, and this one has been worse," says Hugo Lecanda, the manager of the Marriot Hotel in Cancún, referring to the 1988 storm that shut down the parts of the area for months.

Even as residents in the Yucatán began to assess the severe damage from Wilma, Florida residents were busy bracing for the hurricane's arrival in what has become the stormiest season on record. Mandatory evacuations were in place for low-lying areas along the southwest coast and the Florida Keys. FEMA has prepositioned truckloads of ice, water, waterproof tarps, and 13 million ready-to-eat meals in Homestead and Jacksonville.

Wilma, which hit the Yucatán as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday night, pounded the area throughout the day Saturday. At its peak Friday night, winds reached 145 miles per hour and rain came down in torrents.

By Saturday night, the hurricane had slowed to a Category 2 but the winds made it still nearly impossible to walk outdoors.

Mr. Lecanda said his hotel, like most of the others on the main tourist strip along the coast, had suffered heavy damage. Speaking by radio to his small staff, he reported that windows had blown out, the lobby ceiling had crashed down, and water was four feet high. Access to the main beachfront strip was completely blocked by fallen trees and metal that had blown of buildings.

On streets leading to downtown Cancún, gas stations were overturned, a Chinese restaurant was blown down the road in its entirety, a Jeep had been thrown through a supermarket window, and toys from a giant toy store were flung in every direction, with mangled teddy bears stuck in broken roof rafters.

Some 12,000 tourists in Cancún and 20,000 in surrounding areas were evacuated Thursday afternoon and remained in shelters at press time. Tens of thousands of residents were moved into schools, city centers, and convention halls that provided refuge. Food in some shelters was running low Sunday, and there had been no electricity or water for 48 hours.

Radio and telephone towers were down by Friday night, and communication with the outside world was minimal.

Many expressed appreciation for the helpfulness of local officials, even as the situation remained somewhat chaotic.

"People in the shelters have been wonderful and have been coming through to explain what's going on," says Rob Barber from Phoenix, as he huddled in a candlelit room with his wife, three children, and another family of five. "But everyone says something different, and we don't know what's going on. It's not easy after a while."

The airport, which began turning away passengers and canceling flights Thursday afternoon, remained shut and difficult to access Sunday. Many of the dozen or so hospitals in the area were also hard to access.

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