Western Cuba has been lashed by hurricane Wilma as the high winds now head for south-western Florida due to strike this afternoon.

The hurricane has not followed weather forecasters predictions as it was due to make landfall in the Sunshine State on Saturday afternoon, but did not leave Mexico’s Gulf coast until yesterday having taken at least six lives. There the hurricane weakened before picking up to a category three storm again and is now at 115mph.

Cuba has evacuated areas along the affected coast where a number of settlements have already been flooded. It is too early for any assessment of impact to citrus crops.

Florida state governor Jeb Bush has pleaded with Florida Keys residents reluctant to leave the islands that the hurricane is packing “deadly force winds”.

"I cannot emphasise enough to the folks that live in the Florida Keys a hurricane is coming, and a hurricane is a hurricane and it has deadly force winds," he said.

Forecasters believe there could be storm surge flooding some five meteres above normal levels on Florida's south-west coast and that Wilma could also trigger tornadoes.

It is then expected to threaten cities such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale along the Atlantic coast.

Grapefruit growing areas in the state are in the line of fire.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic have suffered torrential rains at the hands of Tropical Storm Alpha - the first time the National Hurricane Centre in the US has had to name storms according to the Greek alphabet as all of the 21 names designated for storms this year have been allocated already. The hurricane season usually ends around the end of November.

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