Wilma makes landfall as Category 3 storm
By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Writer

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore early Monday as a strong Category 3 storm, battering southwest Florida with tornados, 125 mph winds that shook the sturdiest buildings and pounding waves that flooded parts of this area and Key West. At least one death was blamed on the storm.

A man in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs died when a tree fell on him, Broward County spokesman Carl Fowler said. Fowler had no other details.

More than 316,000 homes and businesses lost power. More than 33,100 Floridians spent what almost certainly was an anxious night in dozens of shelters across the state's southern half. Virtually the entire peninsula was under some sort of storm-related watch or warning.

The center of Wilma's eye made landfall around 6:30 a.m. EDT near Cape Romano on an uninhabited island of the same name, 22 miles south of Naples in Collier County on Florida's southwest coast, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. But severe weather began long before. Story