NAPLES, Florida (AP) – Hurricane Wilma plowed into southwest Florida early yesterday with howling 125 mph winds and dashed across the state to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, blowing out windows in skyscrapers, peeling away roofs and knocking out power to millions of people.

At least five people were killed in Florida, bringing the death toll from the storm’s march through the tropics to 24.

The same storm that brought ruin over the weekend to resort towns along Mexico’s Yucatan Coast came ashore in Florida as a strong Category 3 hurricane, but within hours had weakened into a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph. Early in the afternoon, it was back up to Category 3 with 115 mph winds as it swirled out in the open Atlantic.

As it made its away across the state, Wilma caused widespread damage, flattening trees, tearing off screens, breaking water mains, littering the streets with signs and downed power lines, and turning debris into missiles. Officials said it was the most damaging hurricane to hit the Fort Lauderdale area since 1950 and damage was estimated in the billions of dollars.

“We have been huddled in the living room trying to stay away from the windows. It got pretty violent there for a while,” said Eddie Kenny, 25, who was at his parents’ home in Plantation near Fort Lauderdale with his wife. “We have trees down all over the place and two fences have been totally demolished, crushed, gone.”

All of the Florida Keys was without power, and outages extended as far north as Daytona Beach. More than one-third of the state’s residents – more than 6 million people – were without power, including 75 per cent of Florida Power & Light’s customers.

The utility said it could take weeks to restore service to everyone. In Cuba, rescuers used scuba gear, inflatable rafts and amphibious vehicles to pull nearly 250 people from their flooded homes in Havana after Wilma sent huge waves crashing into the capital city and swamped neighbourhoods up to four blocks inland with three feet of water.

In Cancun, Mexico, troops and federal police moved in to control looting at stores and shopping centres ripped open by the hurricane, and hunger and frustration mounted among Mexicans and stranded tourists. President Vicente Fox announced plans to start evacuating some 30,000 frazzled tourists.

Wilma, Florida’s eighth hurricane in 15 months and the 21st storm in the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, came ashore in Florida at 6:30 am near Cape Romano, 22 miles south of Naples, spinning off tornadoes and bringing a potential for up to 10 inches of rain, the National Hurricane Centre said.

A man in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs died when a tree fell on him. Another man in rural Collier County died when his roof collapsed on him or a tree fell on his roof.

In Palm Beach County, a man went to move his van and was killed when debris smashed him into the windshield. An 83-year-old St Johns County woman died in a weekend car crash while evacuating. A man in Collier County had a fatal heart attack while walking in the storm.

Wilma also killed at least six people in Mexico, one in Jamaica and 12 in Haiti as it made its way across the Caribbean.

The hurricane is expected to race up the Atlantic Seaboard and reach the coast of Canada by early tomorrow. Forecasters said that it should stay largely offshore along most of the East Coast, but another storm system coming in behind it from the west could bring heavy rain to New England and the Mid-Atlantic states today.

The storm flooded large sections of Key West and other areas and knocked out power to up to 3.2 million homes and businesses as it rushed across the state and buffeted heavily populated Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties on the Atlantic coast with gusts over 100 mph (160 kph).

In Fort Lauderdale, the hurricane blew out windows in numerous skyscrapers. In downtown Miami, broken glass from skyscrapers littered some streets and sidewalks in the Brickell Avenue financial district. A broken water main sprayed about 15 feet in the air, flooding four or five blocks of the avenue with up to six inches of water.

Meanwhile, weary forecasters also monitored Tropical Depression Alpha, which became the record-breaking 22nd named storm of the 2005 Atlantic season. Alpha, which drenched Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Sunday, was not considered a threat to the United States.