POMPANO BEACH, Florida (AP) – In the Keys island chain, where Wilma’s storm surge caused extensive flooding, plans were announced to welcome tourists beginning yesterday, as power was restored to nearly half the South Florida homes and businesses that lost it during Hurricane Wilma.

The region’s three largest airports were open to commercial traffic, although officials said it could be at least another day before full service is restored.

Lines still formed at gas stations early in the day, but there were more open stations than earlier in the week, and things were slowly returning to normal as restaurants, supermarkets, and even movie theaters opened.

The department said oil companies got backup generators to their retailers, and the state’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light, focused on restoring electricity to stations and supermarkets. Power returned for most of the fuel depot at Port Everglades, which supplies stations across South Florida.

The utility said it had returned power to nearly 46 per cent of the more than six million people who lost service, but said restoration of service for all of the remaining 3.5 million people might take another four weeks.

In the days after Wilma trekked across the state’s southern section on Monday, many gas stations had fuel but no electricity, and others that had power ran out of supplies. Tempers ran short and shouting matches started at some stations when people tried cutting in line.

“There’s plenty of gas in the ground,” said a frustrated Ellen Kelly, who said she stood in line for four hours to get gas for a generator for her power-less home. “Get some generators.”

President George W Bush got his first look at Wilma’s damage on Thursday, taking a helicopter tour with his brother Gov Jeb Bush. The president also visited the National Hurricane Centre in Miami and made a surprise stop at a Baptist church where volunteers served storm victims a barbecued pork lunch.

“People are getting fed,” the president said. “Soon more and more houses will have their electricity. Their life will get back to normal.”

Risk Management Solutions, a risk modeling firm, said new estimates projected that Wilma’s insured losses in the United States ranged from $8 billion (euro6.6 billion) to $12 billion (euro9.9 billion), up from previous estimates of $2 billion (euro1.7 billion) to $10 billion (euro8.24 billion). That would make Wilma the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history, after Katrina and Andrew.

The company said its increase was made after a closer look at damage to roofs and high-rise windows. It also said that as power remains out, many companies will file business interruption insurance claims.

Wilma plowed across Florida after a destructive ride through the Caribbean and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The storm was blamed for 14 deaths in Florida, including five from carbon monoxide poisoning. Wilma also killed at least 12 people in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

A US cruise ship was sent to the Mexican island of Cozumel to deliver aid and pick up any stranded American tourists, but most appeared to have left. In Cancun, lines at makeshift airline ticket counters had nearly vanished.

Mexican President Vicente Fox asked hotel owners not to lay off Cancun residents who rely on tourism for their livelihood. On Isla Mujeres, people complained of limited access to drinking water and homes destroyed by high wind, waves and flooding.

In Florida, State Attorney General Charlie Crist said 279 complaints related to price gouging incidents had been made as of late Thursday. The punishment in fines ranges up to $15,000 (euro12,358) per incident.

Local and county officials have complained about the latest federal relief effort, stirring memories of the criticism directed at Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following Hurricane Katrina.

A day after nine of the 11 water and ice distribution sites in Miami-Dade County ran out of supplies, only one ran out Thursday, with four others running low.

FEMA spokeswoman Frances Marine said the agency dispatched more than 300 truckloads of food, water and ice Thursday to distribution sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. “We are furiously pushing out commodities,” Marine said.

With more than a month to go in this year’s record-breaking hurricane season, Tropical Storm Beta formed Thursday in the southwestern Caribbean, becoming the season’s 23rd tropical storm – the most since record-keeping began in 1851. Beta was expected to threaten Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua but not the United States.