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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Strong Wilma batters South Florida

Juanita Ceron gets a hug from her brother Martin Camacho Monday after seeing their home in Lakeside of the Palm Beaches Mobile Home Park in West Palm Beach, Fla.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Martin Merzer, Wanda J. DeMarzo and Tere Figueras Negrete Knight Ridder

MIAMI – The worst hurricane season in history crashed through South Florida’s back door Monday, ripping from Naples on the west coast through the Everglades to blast Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Keys with unexpected devastation, damaging thousands of homes, shattering thousands of office-tower windows and leaving millions of people shaken and without power.

In Broward County around Fort Lauderdale, authorities called Hurricane Wilma the worst storm to hit that county since Hurricane King in 1950. At least four people died. Broward imposed a countywide curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Miami-Dade police made at least six arrests for looting. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez ordered a countywide curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and it may be extended. Service on Miami-Dade’s Metrorail system was suspended.

Also heavily affected were much of Palm Beach County, the Florida Keys and portions of southwest Florida, especially rural Glades and Hendry counties.

Now, the cleanup and the insurance claims and the repairs begin – again.

“I guess I’m going to be one of several hundred thousand looking for a roofer,” said Susan Schur of the Miami suburb of Kendall.

Search-and-rescue teams were reassigned from the Naples area and dispatched to Glades and Hendry, where mobile-home parks and low-lying single-family homes were smashed.

A falling tree killed one man in Coral Springs, authorities said. A Palm Beach County man died in Loxahatchee when a tree hit his car. Another man in rural Collier County was killed when a roof collapsed on him, possibly after being hit by a tree.

Several other bodies were found, and at least one person died of a heart attack during the storm, but authorities couldn’t immediately confirm that the deaths were hurricane-related.

Regionally, Wilma gouged much wider damage – though less intense – than Hurricane Andrew, the Category 5 monster that flattened much of south Miami-Dade in 1992.

At one point, Wilma’s eye simultaneously touched five counties. President Bush declared 20 Florida counties a major disaster area.

Wilma was the eighth hurricane to strike or brush Florida in 14 months. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which brushed through the region before gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico, had presented local problems, but this one had South Florida written all over it.

“I think it is a blessing to be alive,” said Miguel Cabral, who narrowly avoided being struck by a falling construction crane in Miami Beach. Another crane collapsed in Hallandale Beach.

Seawater severed U.S. 1 around mile markers 31, 73 and 110 in the Florida Keys, which suffered extensive damage. Traffic lights were down throughout the region. Every hospital in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties relied at some point on generator power, according to state officials.

Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International were closed Monday and might be closed Tuesday.

More than 3.2 million customers were without power in 28 counties, including 1.8 million in Miami-Dade and Broward and the entire city of Homestead. All but 5,000 of the 59,000 customers in the Florida Keys were without power. Utility officials said full restoration could take weeks.