Evacuations Begin in Florida as Wilma Churns Through Caribbean

A slightly weakened but still fierce Hurricane Wilma continued to spin through the Caribbean today, as scores of tourists and residents began evacuating low-lying coastal areas in the storm's projected path that could reach south Florida by Sunday.

After briefly becoming the most intense Atlantic storm ever observed, with top sustained winds of 175 miles an hour on Wednesday morning, Wilma's winds had eased to 145 m.p.h. by 8 a.m. today, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. The storm's slowdown was predicted to give a 24-hour reprieve to Florida residents, who had initially expected it to arrive on their shores by Saturday.

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