Wilma pounds Mexico’s Yucatan

The storm has been downgraded to a Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale— but its winds and rains were still powerful enough to cause massive damage and threaten lives. Emergency forces have reported no deaths so far.

The stalled storm has battered Playa del Carmen, Cancun and diving centre Cozumel for the past 36 hours and was due to hang over the area until at least Saturday night.

According to meteorologist Alberto Hernandez Unzon, Wilma’s unprecedented downpour of 23 inches rain is a hurricane record. He also said Wilma was unusually large with a diameter of 500 miles.

This hurricane season has spawned three of the most intense storms on record. Experts say the Atlantic has entered a period of heightened storm activity that could last 20 more years. —Reuters