6m without power after Wilma lashing

Lourdes Garcia (R) is helped by family members as they salvage belongings from their mobile home that was destroyed by hurricane Wilma Monday in the Palma Nova Trailer Park in Davie, Florida. Hurricane Wilma furiously cut across Florida, killing eight people and leaving more than six million people without power.. PHOTO: AFP

The storm slammed across the state in about seven hours Monday, causing billions in insured damage and leaving 6 million people without electricity. Wilma was blamed for at least six and possibly as many as eight deaths statewide.

Officials in the state's three most populous areas Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were prepping to distribute ice, water and other items to storm-struck residents Tuesday, while utility-restoration efforts could stretch into weeks.

"It will be days or weeks before we are back to normal," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

President Bush promised swift help for the storm-ravaged areas. He signed a disaster declaration and was briefed on the situation by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, acting FEMA director David Paulison and Bush's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.

"We have pre-positioned food, medicine, communications equipment, urban search-and-rescue teams," the president said. "We will work closely with local and state authorities to respond to this hurricane."

The hurricane arrived as a Category 3 and littered the landscape with damaged signs, awnings, fences, billboards, roof tiles, pool screens, street lights and electrical lines.

Felled trees and blown roofs dotted expressways, and all three of South Florida's major airports Miami International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach were closed, halting air travel.