Felix Gonzalez Canto, the governor of Quintana Roo state, said Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen were taking the brunt of the storm. He said some buildings on Cozumel Island that had been reinforced against hurricane-force winds had collapsed.
But as of early last evening there were no reports of deaths, and the governor expressed confidence that his state would be able to withstand the storm.
''We are sure we will get through this because among the people of Quintana Roo we have a strong culture of hurricane preparedness," Gonzalez Canto said.
The eye of the hurricane was 35 miles wide and took as long as seven hours to pass over a given spot, leading Mexican officials to express concern that many people might be fooled by the eye's calm winds and leave their shelters prematurely.
Cuba's official news agency reported that 200,000 people had been evacuated from low-lying areas on the island's western coast across the Yucatan Channel from Mexico.
Earlier this week, as it lumbered westward in the Caribbean, US officials said Wilma had become the most intense hurricane ever detected in the Atlantic basin. Local authorities ordered evacuations from Central America to south Florida and 13 people were reported killed in Haiti and Jamaica.
An estimated 30,000 tourists remained in shelters and hotels in and around Cancun. But most of the residents in this city of 500,000 people had been evacuated as the leading edge of the storm downed trees and flooded streets.
Downtown Cancun was deserted except for fire crews in yellow rain slickers, and all the area's department stores and boutiques were boarded up. Federal police sealed off the hotel zone to prevent looting.
''People warn us, and it's up to us to find safety," said Alberto Lemos, a real estate agent. ''If things are bad you stay inside. If it's really bad you go hide in the bathroom."
Mexican meteorologists said Wilma was typical of late-season hurricanes: moving slowly and erratically. Advancing to the north at less than 5 miles per hour, it was expected to leave the Yucatan by late morning today after lingering over the peninsula more than 24 hours.
