United States: Hurricane Wilma is expected to hit Florida as a category 2 storm today after causing a weekend of devastation in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
The storm killed at least three people in Mexico, dumping up to 1.5m (59 inches) of rain on to the peninsula, tearing roofs off houses and churning up beaches.
The southern half of Florida was under a hurricane warning yesterday as thousands of people left their homes and emergency services prepared truckloads of water, ice and food for the relief effort after the storm.
Wilma weakened over the weekend but Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, predicted that the storm would pick up speed dramatically last night. "It's really going to take off like a rocket," he said.
If Wilma remains a category 2 storm, most of southern Florida's buildings should withstand its winds without much damage. Most houses in the region were rebuilt after a major hurricane in 1992 and are strong enough to resist winds of more than 161km/h (100mph).
Emergency officials warned mobile-home dwellers who had not yet evacuated that they should leave southern Florida immediately, adding that hospitals and emergency services would almost cease to function until the storm passed.
Florida has seen none of the traffic jams or panic buying of petrol that accompanied Hurricane Rita's approach in Texas last month. State officials are confident that they can restore power and other services quickly after Wilma has passed.
Cuba has evacuated more than half a million people in preparation for the hurricane's arrival on its way to Florida. In Mexico yesterday, the clean-up operation began with an assessment of the damage caused by the storm.
At least a million people have seen their homes damaged or destroyed and the popular tourist resort of Cancun has been wrecked.
Of those who died, one was hit by a falling tree and two others died from injuries they received when a gas tank exploded.
Four badly decomposed bodies were found floating in flood waters on Cozumel Island, but officials said it was unclear if the deaths were related to the storm.
Wilma killed 13 people in Haiti and Jamaica on its way to Mexico.