Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore yesterday as a strong Category 3 storm, battering southwest Florida with 200 kph winds and pounding waves as it began a frantic dash across the peninsula.

Wilma, Florida's eighth hurricane in 15 months, made landfall at 6:30 AM EDT (1030GMT) near Cape Romano, 35 kilometers south of Naples, bringing with it a potential 5.7-meter storm surge, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane-force winds of at least 120 kph extended 145 kilometers from the center and tropical storm-force winds reached 370 kilometers, the hurricane center said. The storm strengthened in the hours before making landfall.

"I looked out our place and I saw a bunch of stuff flying by," said Paul Tucchinio, who was riding out the storm in a condo three blocks from the beach in Naples. "It sounds like someone threw a bunch of rocks against the boards."

More than 22,600 people were in shelters across the state. But in the low-lying Florida Keys, not even 10 percent of the Keys' 78,000 residents evacuated, Sheriff Richard Roth said.

While landfall occurred far from the Keys, the storm's strongest winds were on its south side and forecasters feared that could mean trouble for the island chain. Key West was experiencing sustained winds of 97 kph with gusts of 122 kph.

Governor Jeb Bush asked that Florida be granted a major disaster declaration for 14 counties. Many of the areas bracing for Wilma were hit by hurricanes in the past two years.

The National Guard was on alert, and state and federal officials had trucks of ice and food ready to deploy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was poised to send in dozens of military helicopters and 13.2 million ready-to-eat meals if needed.

In Miami Lakes, as Wilma spun more than 240 kilometers away, the blue glow of transformers exploding illuminated the pre-dawn sky. Wilma, which prompted the fourth evacuation of the Keys this year, earlier battered the Mexican coastline with howling winds and torrential rains. At least three people were killed in Mexico. Thirteen others died in Jamaica and Haiti, and four bodies were found off Cozumel, though it wasn't clear if they were killed by the storm.

(China Daily October 25, 2005)