Hurricane wilma hotel update

If you've been before, and want to return this spring or summer, expect sparkling newness. Expect adults and families, not rowdy students, because this Mexican state called Quintana Roo is taking advantage of hurricane recovery to price Spring Break out of the market. Cancun, McCarthy says, is a new place for the second time. Created from the low jungle in as Mexico's first master-planned city, Cancun's re-creation today from Hurricane Wilma includes more than renewed hotels and refurbished beaches.

Look for three new PGA-rated golf courses, marinas and nautical opportunities for the first time ever at the hotel-oriented Puerto Cancun or at Malecon Cancun with commercial and residential developments.

If three million visitors, a busy international airport, hotels and supporting shops and restaurants, four-lane highways, hospitals and city infrastructure can happen here, they say, it can happen all over Mexico.

That might be a solid reason to visit Cancun, Cozumel and Riviera Maya right now, before you're lured elsewhere in Mexico. Sure they still have some hotels waiting in the post-hurricane renovation line, but each had enough completed, brand new and ready to show visitors a good time as each new day passes. In fact, the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau puts out a daily update because change is happening so fast. The next Cancuns Cozumel lost its international cruise ship piers to the storm, so now ferries cruisers from ship to shore in vessels provided by the island.

No life boats for this short journey. Claiming percent of the shops to be open, the island's Promotions Board Director Raul Marrufo reports that Cozumel's famous scuba diving reefs are open and the waters are clear. With the old renewed, and ready again for holiday traffic, Fonatur is taking the Cancun model down the coast in the Yucatan Peninsula and all the way to the west coast of Mexico.

Here are some of the up-and-coming names to claim today so you'll be first in line as they open: Costa Maya, Litibu, Loreto, Los Cabos, and the Sea of Cortez. Put the Copper Canyon on the list too, although it's familiar and an easier-to-remember name. Five times the size of the Grand Canyon, this region in northern Mexico is scheduled for high budget visitors looking for what developers call grand tourism category rooms, boutique cabins and luxury tents.

Wilma began to move off the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on the night of the 22nd, then gradually accelerated northeast over the southern Gulf of Mexico toward South Florida as a strong mid and upper-level trough over the central United States moved south and forced a southwesterly steering flow. Figure 5 illustrates Wilma's track across South Florida. Wilma exhibited a very large 55 to 65 mile-wide eye while crossing the state, and the eye covered large portions of South Florida, including the eastern two-thirds of Collier County, extreme northwestern Miami-Dade County, the southern and eastern third of Hendry County, most of Broward County, and all of Palm Beach County.

The eye also clipped the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. The eye wall, the part of the storm with the strongest winds, affected virtually all of South Florida. Sustained hurricane force winds 74 mph or greater were observed over all areas except Hendry and Glades counties, and even those two counties measured hurricane force gusts. The highest recorded gusts were in the mph range. An interesting and revealing aspect of Wilma was the wind field in the eye wall.

This goes against the common, but sometimes erroneous, belief that the strongest winds in a hurricane are always in the right-front quadrant of the storm.

This occurred over much of South Florida, except for central and southern Miami-Dade County which barely missed the southwestern portion of the eye wall, and likely contributed to the heavier damage across Broward and Palm Beach counties compared to slightly lesser damage across much of Miami-Dade and Collier counties. Figure 7 shows that the lowest pressure recorded at NWS Miami while the storm center passed to the north was around mb. Wilma moved rapidly northeast across the state, with an average forward speed of 25 mph.

It traversed the southern peninsula in about 4 hours. Rainfall amounts across South Florida generally ranged from 2 to 4 inches across southern sections of the peninsula to 4 to 6 inches across western Collier county and around Lake Okeechobee, with isolated amounts of up to 6 to 8 inches observed see Figure 8. The maximum storm surge across the area was mostly south of Chokoloskee in Mainland Monroe county where a storm surge of 13 to 18 feet was forecast.

Figure 9 illustrates a simulation of the storm surge for hurricane Wilma. Chokoloskee experienced a storm surge of around 7 feet, which caused extensive flooding. A storm surge of around 7 feet was estimated in Marco Island, with 4 feet in Everglades City. The southeast coast didn't escape the effects of the storm surge, with the tide gauge in Virginia Key reported a maximum surge of around 4 feet. Damage was widespread, with large trees and power lines down virtually everywhere, causing over 3 million customers to lose power.

Structural damage was heaviest in Broward and Palm Beach counties where roof damage and downed or split power poles were noted in some areas. High-rise buildings suffered considerable damage, mainly in the form of broken windows. Hurricane Wilma produced 10 tornadoes over the Florida peninsula on October, but there were no confirmed tornadoes in the Florida Keys. However, a long-lived, mesocyclonic waterspout associated with a supercell thunderstorm was visible from Key West by NWS forecasters and other residents during the afternoon of 23 October Fig.

This violent waterspout moved within three miles of the west end of Key West at closest approach, around EDT. Waterspout movement was estimated by Doppler radar to be near 40 kt toward the north-northwest. The parent convective cell of this vortex was associated with a large outer spiral rainband of Hurricane Wilma. This waterspout would have resulted in significant property damage, had the path tracked just a few miles farther east, over Key West or an adjacent island community in the lower Florida Keys.

The man standing is near a seaweed patch on Smathers Beach, seaward of the coconut palm trees. White Street Pier is visible in the background, in front of the waterspout photograph by Tim Chapman. Casualties and Damage. No fatalities directly related to storm conditions were reported. However, one fatality occurred during the evacuation of a special needs patient.

No major injuries were reported to the NWS. Scattered trees and numerous large branches were blown down throughout the Florida Keys. General damage was reported to shingles, lightweight material roofing, vinyl membrane roofing, and foam-board roof coverings. Isolated damage was reported to exterior wall coverings.

An unknown number of mobile or prefabricated houses were damaged or destroyed. Naval Air Station Key West reported roof damage to an aircraft hanger and a technology building. A prefabricated office building housing a commuter airline collapsed at Key West International Airport, and metal siding was torn off the Air Traffic Control Tower.

Widespread loss of cable-hung traffic signals was reported. Most commercial signs of various sizes were either knocked down or blown out. Extensive power outages occurred to distribution circuits and secondary lines, and complete power failure occurred throughout all of the lower Florida Keys, including Key West.

However, power was restored quickly by utility crews within 36 hours at most locations. The vegetation in the Florida Keys looked scorched for several months after Hurricane Wilma owing to a combination of wind damage, salt damage, and the onset of a record-breaking dry season.

In addition, during the next spring, most of the Royal Poinciana trees in the Keys failed to bloom. Usually, these trees begin flowering in April, peaking in late May and early June, rendering a spectacular display of orange-red flowers.

The primary damage throughout the Florida Keys from Hurricane Wilma was from storm surge flooding. Numerous vessels broke loose from moorings with losses in numerous marinas, including Boca Chica Marina. Several sailboats grounded on the shoulder of U. Highway 1 on Big Pine Key. Numerous ground-floor slab or block homes and businesses flooded throughout the Keys.

Downstairs storage enclosures, sheds, and utility rooms of elevated stilted homes also flooded. Some complete home and business losses occurred. The propane tank for the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter generator fuel tank on Sugarloaf Key floated away the supports were either blown off or collapsed in the storm surge. Several medium to large boats washed ashore along the Saddlebunch Keys.

Thousands of vehicles were rendered permanently inoperable by the high storm tides. In addition, numerous house and vehicle fires occurred throughout the Florida Keys for several days after Hurricane Wilma, owing to electrical malfunctions.

Clothes washing and drying machines and other appliances lined driveways and roadways throughout the Florida Keys for many weeks after the storm. Significant damage occurred to the Florida Keys commercial fishing industry, particularly to the spiny lobster and stone crab trappers.

The strong winds and rough seas destroyed or scattered hundreds of thousands of traps. Those traps that were recovered soon acquired abnormal accumulations of barnacles, apparently due to the mixing of fresh water from the Everglades with salt water from the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida.

Many of the remaining traps were thus locked shut by the barnacles, and extra labor was then required to access the catch, with the traps in many cases being subsequently destroyed. The high winds, seas, and currents associated with Hurricane Wilma pushed most marine navigational buoys out of position.

Subsequently, the Port of Key West was closed, and recreational boating remained hazardous for several days after Hurricane Wilma. Severe beach erosion occurred along the Atlantic shores of the Florida Keys, with severe erosion noted on Gulf side beaches in Key West as well.

Most beaches were completely inundated near time of maximum storm tide. Breaking waves of six feet were estimated along the upper Florida Keys. South Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West was closed to traffic for nearly three weeks, while crews removed tons of sand and large pieces of seawall from the road see Fig.

In addition, Hurricane Wilma occurred just days before the height of Fantasy Fest, Key West's annual autumn street festival, attended by up to , people. The event was postponed until December. However, attendance was less than a third of the normal October attendance, and the local economy lost millions of dollars in hotel, restaurant, and retail revenues.

The Florida Keys tourism economy suffered for several months after Hurricane Wilma. Finally, the commercial fishing industry also suffered huge economic losses. Monroe County Emergency Management provided information regarding both wind and storm surge damage from Hurricane Wilma. The U. Coast Guard Sector Key West provided information regarding damage to marine navigational aids.

Their reviews improved the substance and the clarity of the final draft. Pasch, R. Blake, H. Cobb III, and D.