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October 24, 2005—Tourists rest at a storm shelter in Cancún as Hurricane Wilma approaches Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula on October 20, 2005. Even before landfall, roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts, and thousands of tourists were evacuated to escape the storm's wrath.

Wilma weakened somewhat as it came ashore last Friday with winds of 145 miles an hour (230 kilometers an hour). The hurricane then stalled over the coastal cities of Cancún and Cozumel, where it dumped almost five feet (one and a half meters) of rain before finally moving back into the Gulf of Mexico.

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