I don't remember a time when hurricane names got up to the letter "W", but I can't say that anymore. So far in 2005 there have been twenty one (21) named storms. The Gulf Coast region of the United States will see three (3) category five (5) hurricanes this season which in unbelievable. People are not even close to recovering from their losses after Hurricane Katrina and Rita.
Hurricane Wilma is a mean looking storm. I was just looking at radar and satellite pictures and judging from it position and the fact that it grew in strength so fast, there could be tremendous damage to the Mexico Peninsula, Cuba and southern Florida. The hurricane is in warm southern waters and it will make landfall much further south than was the case with Katrina and Rita. This means that there will be no time for the cooler waters of the north Gulf of Mexico to reduce the storms strength before landfall.
I just watched a report on CNN. Their local report was showing the traffic heading out of the Florida Keys toward inland safety. Right now they are only evacuating visitors from the area. Residents and business owners will be ask to leave at a later time. This reporter pointed out a funeral home in the area that had just taken down the boarding from it's windows after Hurricane Rita and now they were putting it back up again.
I seriously doubt if experts who designed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ever imaged this many strong hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast in one hurricane season. I know I've never seen anything like this before. One can only hope and pray that next year will prove to be a light hurricane season.
We sure could use one.
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