Florida Eyes Wilma as She Batters Mexico

Hurricane Wilma’s outer eyewall made its way to the Mexican mainland early Friday, slamming into Cozumel, just off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It's expected course puts the hurricane over the Florida mainland on Monday.

Wilma has been a record-making storm, gaining the title of the most severe hurricane on record when its top sustained winds were measured Wednesday at 175 mph, (the same as Hurricanes Rita and Katrina when they were at sea). This was 105 mph faster than the wind speed measured when Wilma was just a tropical storm. Meteorologists report that this wind speed increase is the fastest ever recorded. Moreover, Wilma’s pressure dropped from 982 millibars to 882 millibars in just 24 hours, a rate of 4.2 millibars per hour. The lowest pressure at landfall record is 892 millibars in the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys, which was blamed for more than 400 deaths.

Currently a category 4 hurricane, Wilma was downgraded from its Category 5 status yesterday. The storm is likely to continue losing strength, particularly if it stalls over the Yucatan. From there, Wilma’s exact path is difficult to forecast, though it is expected to be picked up by the jet stream, which would pull it over the Gulf of Mexico into southern Florida.

Residents, tourists and some hospitals already have been evacuated from the Florida Keys in advance of the storm. Many mainland residents of southern Florida also have moved north to avoid what will be the seventh storm in 16 months for the state.

Linda Adams, associate vice president of the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association told Lawn & Landscape that the Florida green industry has been resilient since last year’s hurricane season and that business owners are paying close attention to Wilma as she makes progress.

“Everybody is watching the storm very closely and they’re making necessary preparations, such as making sure generators have fuel, protecting plant materials, etc.,” Adams says. “In South Florida, where the storm is forecast to hit, they may be paying even greater attention, but if the cone surrounding the storm moves even a little bit north of where they expect, some areas of Central Florida could also be looking at being without power for a while. Every hurricane is different, and we’ve had a long window to watch Wilma, so right now it’s a wait-and-see game to determine what’s going to happen next.”

Moreover, Adams notes that FNGLA and other state and regional industry organization have made efforts to educate green industry business owners on hurricane preparedness.

“One thing we did as an association is create a hurricane preparedness Web page with tips for getting your business organized and protected before a severe storm,” Adams explains. “It also has links to a number of other hurricane information Web sites so our members can be as informed as possible. At the beginning of hurricane season, we communicated with all of our members to make them aware of this page.”

Additionally, university and extension services in Florida have held educational seminars related to hurricane prep, as well as practical maintenance classes on how to prune trees to maximize their survival under severe wind stress.

Communication after storms also has become important for FNGLA and its statewide chapters. “Each chapter of our association has a volunteer emergency contact person now,” Adams says. “We provide a list of those contact people to all of our members so they know that that’s the person to get in touch with right after a storm for a damage assessment. From there, our home office will contact each of the emergency contact volunteers to learn the status of the businesses in their area so we can make sure everyone’s okay and determine how and where we should start to help.”

Even with four storms, one right after the other, during the 2004 hurricane season, Adam’s says it was Hurricane Katrina’s effect on Florida and the Gulf Coast in August that has kept FNGLA and its members focused on safety and preparedness as Wilma looms. “We had four storms last year with a lot of damage and disruption, but seeing Katrina was really reminiscent of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which was the most destructive single storm many of us have experienced,” she says. “Even though we were hit multiple times last year, we have to remember that it can still get worse and, even though we’re resilient, we can’t get complacent in our hurricane preparedness.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.