Hurricane (Typhoon) in Lee, Florida

Hurricane Wilma made landfall near Cape Romano in Collier County around daybreak on October 24th as a Category 3 hurricane with a 60 mile wide eye wall. Wilma then raced across far southern Florida in five hours and exited into the Atlantic just north of Palm Beach as a Category 2 hurricane. Wilma produced widespread heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches across the area but unseasonably dry conditions prior to Wilma limited flooding. Storm surge was not a problem in the Fort Myers area as winds were offshore. In Lee County...The north part of Hurricane Wilma's eye wall passed along the Lee/Collier county border. Southern Lee County received widespread minor to isolated moderate damage. A peak wind gust of 87 MPH was reported at the C-MAN station at Big Carlos Pass at 654 AM EDT. The Regional Southwest airport recorded a peak wind from the north of 79 MPH at 828 AM EDT and Page Field recorded a peak wind of 76 MPH at 812 AM EDT. An estimated 17,000 claims were made to the insurance industry and and $101 million in insured and uninsured damage was reported to numerous mobile homes, aluminum-sided structures, pool cages, shingles, and thousands of fallen trees, some onto residences and vehicles. Farther north, problems were much less notable with minor damage to poorly constructed structures and mobile homes, and scattered tree, limb, and power line damage. The debris totaled about 200,000 cubic yards, or about 1/10 of the debris left by Hurricane Charley in 2004. Power was out to about 208,000 customers at the peak of the storm.