Mexico’s famed Caribbean resorts were knee-deep in water yesterday after Hurricane Wilma roared through, smashing homes and killing at least six people, as the storm set a new course for Florida. Three full days of howling hurricane winds and rain left towns along the coast badly flooded, and thousands of sullen tourists spent their third night in dark stuffy refuges with no running water and food running short. Hundreds of thousands of people suffered serious damage to their homes as the storm moved slowly over the Yucatan peninsula.

The long spit of white sand that draws planeloads of sun seekers to Cancun was under water. Luxury hotels were flooded and littered with debris after the normally tranquil sea off Quintana Roo state roared inland. “The structural damage is everywhere and the winds are still strong,” Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez said late on Saturday as the army prepared to send in trucks and planes with food, water, medical kits and building materials. President Vicente Fox was also due to fly to the area yesterday.

In Florida, hurricane warnings were in effect for the Florida Keys and along the state’s west coast from Longboat Key southward and the east coast from Titusville south. A hurricane warning was also in effect for Havana and western Cuba. Such warnings mean hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.

In Cancun, locals and tourists alike endured another night in cramped refuges with no electricity – most of them in damp 3-day-old clothes and dreaming of hot food and a warm bed. “We wanted to do it all – the lobster cruise, the booze cruise,” sighed Dwayne Redmond, a Chicago firefighter who came to Mexico with his wife for the vacation of a lifetime.

Many foreigners said they craved a beer to cheer them up, but alcohol sales have been banned since Wilma hit on Thursday. Adding to the gloom, rumors circulated that flights from Cancun might not resume for days and tourists may have to be bused out of the Yucatan peninsula, famous for its turquoise coral-filled seas, white sand and Mayan ruins.

As the storm eased on Saturday evening, people ventured out in search of food, and some took advantage of the chaos to loot. Dozens waded out of smashed stores clasping plasma TVs, fridges and bundles of clothes on hangers. Police fired shots into the water to try to scatter them. Rescue workers in boats plucked families from houses where the muddy water was chest-high.

Florida is next in line, with Wilma due to hit today. Wilma’s eye drifted toward the northeast into the Gulf of Mexico early yesterday. It was moving about 3 mph (4.8 kph) but was expected to pick up speed in the next 24 hours, the US National Hurricane Center said.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), Wilma’s maximum sustained winds were holding steady at 100 mph (160 kph) and some increase in strength was possible yesterday. The storm ranked as a Category 2 hurricane on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale. Such a storm can cause moderate damage.

The center of the storm was about 40 miles north of Cancun and about 350 miles west-southwest of Key West, the hurricane center said. Florida authorities were taking no risks and ordered evacuations, starting with 80,000 residents of the vulnerable Florida Keys.

In Mexico, two deaths had been reported in the island of Cozumel. One person also died in Cancun when a gust of wind blew out a window, two died in the resort town of Playa del Carmen, farther south, when a gas tank exploded, and a man was killed in Yucatan state crushed by a tree branch. Mudslides caused by Wilma killed 10 people in Haiti this week.

Noel RANDEWICH