Frustration in Florida mounts

Supplies continue to run short

MIAMI — Many Floridians struggled another day to nd food, water and fuel after Hurricane Wilma on Thursday. Lines of people and cars formed around home improvement stores and gas stations.

President Bush arrived in Miami to visit the National Hurricane Center and boarded a helicopter to get his rst look at the damage wrought by Wilma in Florida, where about 2 million homes and businesses were still without power.

Many gas stations that had fuel were without electricity, and others that had power ran out of supplies. Shouting matches started at some stationswhen people tried cutting in line.

“ Get gas down here. This is craziness,” Connie Rodriguez, 23, said Thursdaywhile she and her ancé tried getting gas at two stations across the street from each other.

Progress was being made: Port Everglades had power back for most of its fuel depot, which supplies stations across South Florida. About 700 trucks will be picking up gas there to deliver to stations Thursday, down from the normal 1,000, said Carlos Buqueras, director of business development at the Fort Lauderdale- area port. Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma: Vanessa Sava lls up gas cans and her vehicle afterwaiting hours in line in Coral Gables, Fla.

Miami- Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the state’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light, had reprioritized its efforts to restore electricity to gas stations and grocery stores quickly. His county has lent generators to some businesses to get them open and he has asked for more from the federal government.

Nine of the 11 water and ice distribution sites in MiamiDade ran out of supplies Wednesday, but 10 were restocked Thursday, he said. Broward County had 17 sites open Thursday. Thousands of exasperated people have waited in lines for hours this week to get basic supplies.

Wednesday, Gov. Jeb Bush took responsibility for frustrating relief delays in a state all too familiar with powerful storms. On Thursday, Bush again pleaded for patience and said supplieswere shipped overnight to Miami- Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“ While we have a historic amount of product coming to these places, it’s not enough, so we’re going to have a couple of days before we get to the point where our supplywill meet the demand,” he said.

The criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reminiscent of the anger unleashed following Hurricane Katrina.

“ This is like the Third World,” said Claudia Shaw, who spent several hours in a gas line. “ We live in a state where we suffer from these storms every year. Where is the planning?”

Wilma killed at least 27 people in its charge across the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida.

Florida’s of cial death toll doubled from ve to 10 Wednesday, and the storm also killed at least 12 people in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

In Mexico, weary tourists camped out at the airport in hopes of grabbing a precious seat on @ ights Thursday leaving hurricane-ravaged Cancun. Thousands of tourists remained stranded along coast.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA, asked Floridians to have patience and promised to deploy cargo planes overnight to gather water and ice for delivery by Thursday.

“Under the best circumstances, even in the best planning, you still confront the physical reality of a destructive storm,” Chertoff told The Associated Press during his @ ight to Florida.

More than 2,900 people remained housed in 25 shelters spread over 11 counties.

Florida Power & Light had restored power by Thursday to about 36% of the 6 million people who had lost it. Of cials warned, however, that the full restoration process could last through Nov. 22 in Miami- Dade and Broward counties.

“ All we can do is be patient and tell them an estimated time because we don’t know what we might nd down the line,” utility foreman Heath Lowery said in Coral Gables. “ We don’t come out here and just turn a switch on and the lights come back.”

The record-breaking storm season wasn’t over. Tropical Storm Beta, the season’s 23rd tropical storm, formed in the Caribbean and was expected to threaten Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, but not the United States.

In Florida, the Upper and Middle Keys announced plans to accommodate tourists again beginning today; the Lower Keys, including Key West, expected to have tourists return starting Monday. Mexico’s Caribbean

By Lynne Sladky, AP