Florida, Mexico and Cuba reported progress by Friday in recovery from a trail of destruction left by Hurricane Wilma, briefly the Atlantic’s strongest storm on record.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Beta, the 23rd Atlantic storm in the record-breaking 2005 hurricane season, churned in the Caribbean, and readied to become a hurricane, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
In Florida, United States President George Bush visited areas battered by Wilma four days ago, to reassure distressed residents and defuse criticism of government relief efforts, which began with the handling of Hurricane Katrina after it struck US Gulf Coast states on August 29, and flooded New Orleans.
Bush and his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, visited a food-and-water distribution centre in Pompano Beach that is serving about 7 000 meals a day, thanking volunteers for their service.
The president waded into the crowd waiting for food, shaking hands and posing for pictures, and, in one case, signing the T-shirts worn by a family of seven.
”I know people are frustrated because they don’t have power on yet, but I’ve been told by Jeb and others that at least 6 000 people from out of state are working with the power people here in-state to get people’s lines up as quick as possible,” Bush told reporters.
”The federal government, working with the state and local governments, are responding as best as we possibly can,” he said.
About four million Florida residents remain without electricity, also needed to raise water pressure for water distribution and power gasoline pumps.
Wilma, packing winds of up to 195kph, gave the southern state its worst battering since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and left at least nine people dead.
The huge storm tore through the southern US state on Monday, causing an estimated $4-billion to $8-billion dollars in damage, according to California-based risk specialists Eqecat.
The president has formally declared a major disaster in Florida, releasing federal funds to supplement state and local recovery efforts.
Looting in Mexico
Meanwhile, in Mexico, police in the glitzy resort of Cancun said that 475 people have been arrested on looting charges and more than 1 000 stolen items, from televisions to refrigerators and even one automated teller machine, have been recovered.
Nearly all of Cancun’s shopping centres had been sacked in the chaos caused by Wilma, which had lingered over Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula during the weekend.
Cuba, meanwhile, said repairs of Havana’s landmark seaside walk, the Malecon, were under way.
Army engineer brigades began reconstruction of 13 sections of the 7km sea wall and the clearing of two flooded road tunnels in the capital, a Second Lieutenant, Eliecer Barban, said.
Separately, Cuban President Fidel Castro confirmed his acceptance of US help, the first time in US State Department memory the Marxist island state has said yes to US largesse.
”We have no objection at all that the three US officials visit us to give their assessments and hold an exchange on these matters,” Castro said on state television, reading a letter to the US interests section in Havana.
US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said the US offered on Monday to send in a needs-assessment team after the storm, which knocked out power and forced the evacuation of about 260 000 Cubans.
New record
History books were being rewritten once again on Thursday as the hurricane season, due to end officially on November 30, notched a new record.
Tropical Storm Beta, the record 23rd storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, threatened Central America with heavy rains and winds as it appeared set to grow to hurricane force on Friday, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Beta was packing winds of 95kph as it crept north, the centre said. Authorities in the Colombian island of San Andres urged residents to rush preparations to protect life and property.
Wilma took the title of strongest storm on record in the Atlantic basin on October 19. — AFP
