26 October 2005 Hurricane Wilma ravages Southern Florida
Southern Florida has been left reeling after Hurricane Wilma tore through the state leaving billions of dollars of damage in her wake.
President Bush has declared it to be a national disaster area, with heavy flooding, severe damage and power outages crippling towns and cities.
According to the South Florida Sentinel, Tony Carper, the emergency management director of the town of Broward, said: "I said beforehand that I thought people would be unpleasantly surprised by the power of this storm, and I think they have been unpleasantly surprised.
"This is the strongest hurricane to hit us in decades."
Some American newspapers are reporting that seven people in Florida have died.
Widespread damage has forced a number of governmental buildings to close in the area, including Fort-Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Miami International Airport.
Before hitting the coast of America, Wilma had ravaged through the Caribbean and parts of Central America, killing 19 people in Mexico, Haiti and Jamaica.
Although the hurricane never hit Cuba, fierce rain flooded many of the streets there, with reports claiming that a number of homes were filled with waist-high water.
Wilma is now moving north east over the Atlantic in a weakened state, with a further calming predicted over the next 24 hours. 
Archive Travel Insurance News Stories
Related Travel Insurance News
26 March 2008 Women 'confident' to travel alone
Women have become more confident to travel to traditional and emerging... [more]
26 March 2008 Paris and Bruges 'are emerging destinations for city breaks'
Paris and Bruges have been named as emerging destinations for city breaks in... [more]
26 March 2008 Princess takes birthday trip to traditional ski resort
Princess Eugenie, daughter of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and the Duke of... [more]
26 March 2008 Snow falls across Europe
Snow has been falling across Europe in the past week, leaving many traditional... [more]
Get a travel insurance quote today from Travel Insurance Web, comprehensive cover at an amazingly low price.
