Florida girds for Hurricane Wilma.

Publication: South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Byline: Ken Kaye, Scott Wyman and Brittany Wallman

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Hurricane Wilma was expected to slam Florida's Southwest Coast possibly as a Category 3 storm by 8 a.m. Monday, barrel across the state and emerge in the Atlantic near West Palm Beach by early afternoon.

For the state's west coast, it could be a repeat of Hurricane Charley, which demolished the Punta Gorda area in August 2004. For the east coast, it could be the worst storm since Hurricane Andrew destroyed much of Miami-Dade County in 1992, officials said.

It depends on how much the system strengthens as it crosses the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico _ and then is sheared by the dry, cool air of a cold front driving Wilma to the northeast.

Under the latest forecast, Wilma would hit the state's Gulf Coast between Naples and Fort Myers with winds of about 110 mph, just shy of a major hurricane. It was to bring winds of more than 100 mph to South Florida.

It...

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