US: Hurricane Wilma has swept across Florida, bringing 200km/h (125mph) winds that have shattered windows, torn off roofs, ripped up trees and killed at least one person.
Two and a half million people in the state were without electricity yesterday and southern islands such as Key West were under water.
Nine out of 10 residents in vulnerable areas ignored evacuation warnings, however, as emergency officials warned of "hurricane fatigue" after eight hurricanes in just 15 months. Almost 400 miles in diameter, the storm covered most of Florida as it moved across the state.
Wilma made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm but soon weakened to Category 2, with winds slowing to about 160km/h (100mph).
A man in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs died when a tree fell on him, adding to at least three people killed in Mexico and 13 in Jamaica and Haiti as Wilma made its way across the Caribbean last week.
More than one-third of Key West was flooded, including the airport, and travel in and out of the city was impossible because the only highway connecting the keys to the mainland was under water. Many Key West residents ignored warnings on Sunday night and crowded into bars as the storm approached and emergency officials fear that many houses have not been fortified against the wind and rain.
The storm moved quickly across Florida into the Atlantic Ocean and it is not expected to come ashore again until tomorrow, when it could hit Nova Scotia.
Florida governor Jeb Bush warned the public not to be fooled by the lull that followed Wilma's initial impact, because heavy rain and storm surges could follow in its wake.
President George Bush signed a disaster declaration for the storm-hit areas and promised swift action to help victims.
"We have pre-positioned food, medicine, communications equipment, urban search-and-rescue teams. We will work closely with local and state authorities to respond to this hurricane," he said.
With truckloads of ice and food standing by, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was preparing yesterday to send in dozens of military helicopters and more than 13 million ready-to-eat meals. More than 33,000 people were in shelters across the state yesterday and 3,100 National Guard soldiers were on duty.
In Cuba, rescuers used inflatable rafts and diving equipment to rescue more than 250 people from flooded homes in Havana, where two million people sat out the storm in the dark.
As Wilma passed, forecasters were monitoring tropical depression Alpha, the 22nd major storm to develop in the Atlantic Ocean this year.
Alpha has already brought heavy rain to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but forecasters are confident that it represents no threat to the US.
