Hurricane Wilma Slams South Florida Producers

By Gene McAvoy, Extension Agent, Hendry Couty Extension Office

Hurricane Wilma was a classic October hurricane, which struck South Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on October 24th, 2005 causing major damage and exacting over $1 billion in losses to the South Florida vegetable industry. Wilma could not have come at a worse time to inflict the greatest amount of harm to agriculture and vegetable industry as most of the fall crop had already been planted and many crops were nearing maturity being only a few days or weeks away from harvest. In addition to hitting at a time when growers had the maximum amount of time and money invested in their crops, Wilma followed a track that spared none of the major vegetable production areas of South Florida – tearing across the Glades, Homestead, Palm Beach and Southwest Florida.

Wilma developed from a tropical depression near Jamaica , a typical source region for October tropical cyclones, on the afternoon of October 15, 2005. It became the 21st named storm of the season during the morning hours of October 17, 2005, which tied the record for the most named storms in one season originally set back in 1933. Wilma underwent a rapid intensification cycle.  The central pressure reached 882 mb, making Wilma the most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin , a full 6 mb lower than Hurricane Gilbert in September 1988. Wilma made landfall on Cozumel Island just off the Yucatan Peninsula as a strong category 4 hurricane on Friday, October 21st, then drifted erratically over the Yucatan Peninsula . Wilma then began to move off the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula , and gradually accelerated northeast over the southern Gulf of Mexico toward South Florida . The hurricane made landfall as a category 3 storm on the southwest Florida coast between Everglades City and  Cape Romano .

Wilma exhibited a very large 55 to 65 mile-wide eye while crossing the state, and the eye covered large portions of South Florida, including the eastern two-thirds of Collier County, extreme northwestern Miami-Dade County, the southern and eastern third of Hendry County, most of Broward County, and all of Palm Beach County. The eye also clipped the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee . The eye wall, the part of the storm with the strongest winds, affected virtually all of South Florida .  Sustained hurricane force winds (74 mph or greater) were observed over all areas. The highest recorded gusts were in the 100-120 mph range.  An interesting and revealing aspect of Wilma was the wind field in the eye wall.  The winds on the back (south/west) side of the eye wall were as strong, if not stronger, than those on the front (north/east) side. This goes against the common, but sometimes erroneous, belief that the strongest winds in a hurricane are always in the right-front quadrant of the storm.

Wilma moved rapidly northeast across the state, with an average forward speed of 25 mph. Wilma exited the east coast over northeastern Palm Beach County near Palm Beach Gardens around 11 AM Monday October 21st as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of around 105 mph.  It traversed the southern peninsula in about 4 hours. Rainfall amounts across South Florida ranged from 2 to 4 inches across southern sections of the peninsula to 4 to 6 inches across western Collier County and around Lake Okeechobee, with growers reporting amounts of up to 12 to 15 inches in SW Florida .

Damage was widespread, with large trees and power lines down virtually everywhere, causing over 3 million customers to lose power. Structural damage was heaviest in Broward and Palm Beach counties where roof damage and downed or split power poles were noted in some areas. High-rise buildings suffered considerable damage, mainly in the form of broken windows. Damage to vegetables crops in South Florida was severe with average losses of crops in the field around 70 percent. Of course, this average included fields that were a 100 % loss to losses in the 30-40% range. Plant damage ranged from breakage, torn foliage, fruit drop and scarring, sand blasting, and flooding. In many places, plants were literally blown or washed out of the ground along with plastic mulch and drip tubes. In other fields, plants were so badly sand blasted that no green tissue remained. As in all such disasters crop damage was not uniform and while one portion of a field may have been spared total devastation, crops a few hundred feet away may have been totally obliterated. Beans, corn, leafy vegetables and melons were among the crops hardest hit, but there was no crop that could withstand the fury of Wilma.

In addition, the area had nearly half of the state total of greenhouse vegetables –– this industry suffered 100 % loss - 4 -5 million in crop loss with a similar amount in structures. South Florida was also home to a number of transplant operations, which suffered major damage. Loss of transplants resulting from this damage will slow replanting and recovery efforts. After the hurricane growers are still feeling the effects in terms of increased disease pressure and physiological effects – some older plants basically shut down and stopped growing - that are hard to account for directly.

Citrus was also hard hit. Approximately 80 % of grapefruit and 50 % of oranges were blown off the tree. Some trees were uprooted and the long-term effect from diseases particularly canker is unknown. Sugarcane was laid flat and will suffer harvesting losses as well as decreased sucrose content.

While livestock losses were minimal, producers suffered damage to fences and widespread flooding of pastures and loss of forage quality from water and wind and the large number of downed trees, which will require cleanup as well. All producers suffered major damage to structure – including barns, buildings, pump houses etc. Worker housing also suffered major damage in a number of places. This damage along with labor demands in other sectors has affecting labor availability to growers for recovery. Official estimates of total agricultural losses from Wilma in South Florida exceed $2 billion dollars

By Gene McAvoy using information from the National Weather Service