Wilma-ravaged Floridians scramble for supplies

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) – Floridians took cold showers and lined up
for gas, water, ice and money on Wednesday as power crews
worked to restore electricity to 5 million people two days
after Hurricane Wilma hit Florida’s most populous region,
killing 10 people.

With most traffic lights out and residents complaining of
long lines for emergency water and ice, gasoline and groceries,
life for many from Miami to West Palm Beach was a tedious wait
for basics.

“The next couple of days are not going to be easy, not that
the last couple of days have been easy,” said Sen. Mel
Martinez, a Florida Republican. “There is no way of making what
occurred go away overnight.”

Wilma killed 10 people in Florida, several of them when
trees, roofs and glass fell on them, and one in the Bahamas
after a damaging trek through the Caribbean, where 17 people
died in Haiti and Mexico.

Risk analysts have estimated the storm’s damage in Florida
at up to $10 billion, which would rank it among the top 10
most-expensive storms to hit the United States.

Fueled by unusually warm sea temperatures, the Atlantic
hurricane season has been a record-breaker, with 22 tropical
storms or hurricanes, besting the old record of 21 set in 1933.

This year was also marked by the most intense Atlantic
storms ever recorded, including Hurricane Katrina, which in
August burst the levees protecting New Orleans and flooded the
city. Katrina killed more than 1,200 people and caused more
than $30 billion in damage, probably the costliest natural
disaster in U.S. history.

FIVE MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER

Throughout south Florida, lines stretched for hundreds of
yards (meters) at open service stations and people clustered at
ATMs, grocery stores and shops that showed any signs of
opening.

Most local governments and courts were still closed but
garbage trucks trolled through the streets picking up trash and
storm debris.

Truck convoys carried electrical company workers who fixed
power poles and replaced downed lines. Tree trimmers hacked up
fallen branches.

South Florida had plenty of fuel, but little electricity to
pump it from the ground. Florida Power & Light said it had
restored electricity to 647,000 of the 3.2 million customers
who lost it. That left more than 2.5 million customers, or 5
million people, without lights, refrigeration and air
conditioning.

Many south Florida towns and cities were under “boil-water”
orders because of possibly contaminated water supplies.

But officials in Miami-Dade County said its water was safe
and seemed frustrated with people who grumbled that bottled
water was slow to arrive. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you need
water, just turn your faucet on,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos
Alvarez.

Wilma caused as much as $1 billion in damage to Florida
farms, with sugar cane, citrus fruit and winter vegetable crops
hard hit, state agriculture officials said.

Amid the chaos, though, there were signs that south Florida
was slowly putting itself back together. Miami International
and Palm Beach International airports were open.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was still
closed to major commercial traffic, but some small planes were
landing, a spokeswoman said.

(Additional reporting by Michael Peltier in Tallahassee,
Laura Myers in Key West, Jane Sutton in Miami and John Marquis
in the Bahamas)