How Hurricane Wilma Transformed Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo, Mexico — Two decades after its devastating impact in 2005, Hurricane Wilma remains a watershed moment in the history of Quintana Roo, leaving behind a profound lesson that has cemented a culture of prevention and strengthened Civil Protection protocols in the state.

This is confirmed by Guillermo Núñez Leal, the state director of Civil Protection, who underscores that a preventive culture and a state of alert for any eventuality have been developed throughout the state, coordinating efforts among the three levels of government.

He highlighted that in 2025, twenty years after Wilma's impact, coordination between institutions and the review of the 810 temporary shelters available in the state began in the months of April and March. These shelters are now fully ready for the final phase of the current hurricane season. Furthermore, each municipality has included spaces equipped for pets and their owners.

Thanks to technological advances, there is greater precision in forecasting phenomena that could impact the Quintana Roo coast. The department maintains constant surveillance of the Atlantic 24/7, in addition to coordinating the dissemination of preventive measures with citizens and providing logistical support to municipalities.

Additionally, he highlighted that this is complemented by a high level of public awareness, especially in coastal areas and on the islands.

"At the moment we see the trajectory of a phenomenon, once it is fixed, what we do is evacuate the fishermen and all those who are in the coastal area… the residents themselves leave, they know long before we issue an alert, because the sea warns them… of their own volition they secure their things," explained Núñez Leal, emphasizing that the population moves to shelters or with relatives, requesting only surveillance for their property.

For his part, Guillermo Morales López, who was the state coordinator of Civil Protection in 2005, relives Wilma as an experience that is told as "an anecdote of overcoming" from that October 21, which along with September are historically the most dangerous months for the region.

Morales narrated that the beginning of the emergency coincided with the cancellation of the MTV Music Awards in Xcaret by order of the then-governor Félix González Canto, so that personnel could move to Cancún to attend to the emergency.

Thursday, October 21, was declared the first day of Wilma. The preparation time was critical, as when the orange alert was activated, "very little time remained." Wilma was characterized by its slowness, remaining for 63 hours (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), with an average speed of only 3.2 kilometers per hour.

"Dawn would break and the hurricane was there, dusk would fall and the hurricane was there, dawn would break again and it continued," he recalled.