Playa del Carmen Getting Completely Clobbered

Worst in Playa History!  Early Pictures of Playa below!

Hurricane Wilma is "relentlessly pounding" the Riviera Maya and the whole Yucatan Peninsula this early Saturday packing 120 mph winds and dumping "tremendous" amounts of rain that may not let up for the next 24 hours.  It's a major disaster!

We are taking a fierce battering as the center of this now Category 3 storm is stalling over us.

There is loss of life, flooding, and massive wind damage.  

Wilma is being blamed for the deaths of two people after strong winds caused a gas tank to explode in Playa del Carmen yesterday. No deaths have been reported in Cancun and Cozumel but communications are down....so there is no way to really know for now.

At this point, there is no way to tell all the damages but this is clearly the worst in history.  Please expect the worst as this thing finishes up with us in the next 24 hours….we will need lots of help – please stay tuned here at PlayaMayaNews.com for more news as we can and later, instructions on how you can help.

Here are the latest numbers on Hurricane Wilma, reported by the National Hurricane Center as of Saturday morning......

Top wind speed: Sustained winds about 125 mph, with higher gusts.

Saffir-Simpson scale status: Category 3 (131-155 mph), still a major hurricane; additional weakening expected overnight while Wilma's center is over land.

Location of storm center: Over Playa Del Carmen, Yucatan Peninsula; about 25 miles southwest of Cancun and 430 miles southwest of Key West, Fla.

Movement: Stationary, but is expected to begin drifting northward later Saturday. "On this track, the core of Wilma will continue to severely pound portions of the extreme northeastern Yucatan Peninsula all day today."

Size of storm: Hurricane-force winds extend up to 85 miles from the storm center; tropical storm-force winds extend up to 200 miles from the storm center.

Here are some early pictures from playa on late Friday

Constituyentes Avenue in Playa on Friday