"The season's record-tying 21st storm, fueled by the warm waters of the northwest Caribbean Sea, strengthened alarmingly into a Category 5 hurricane, the top rank on the five-step scale of hurricane intensity.
A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane measured maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, with higher gusts, the U.S.
National Hurricane Center said.
The plane also recorded a minimum pressure of 882 millibars, the lowest value ever observed in the Atlantic basin. That meant Wilma was stronger than any storm on record, including Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in late August, and Rita, which hit the Texas-Louisiana coast in September"
Wilma could be the worst disaster yet waiting to happen. It's a good thing it's not heading for New Orleans, but Florida could be in for big trouble.
Ironically, just when most people were starting to feel like we must be over the worst of it, this storm shows up and breaks the records for power and strength. There's still six weeks left to the season, and it doesn't appear as though the waters of the Atlantic basin have cooled any.
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