Wilma, at one time the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic basin, killed at least four people in Florida on Monday after a devastating trek through the Caribbean that killed at least ten in Haiti and seven in Mexico.
A powerful Category 3 storm with 125 mph (200 kph) winds when it struck south-west Florida early on Monday, Wilma was the eighth hurricane to hit the state in 15 months, an unprecedented assault by nature that left Floridians reeling.
"Really, really tired of this. This is the third time I've been without power (this year), first Katrina, then Rita, now this," said Miamian Joe Fraghatti, 30, who spent an hour on Tuesday morning in a fruitless search for gasoline. "I'm definitely thinking of moving west."
By 5 am (0900 GMT) on Tuesday, Wilma's top winds had fallen to 115 mph (185 kph) as the storm sped north-east over the Atlantic at 53 mph (85 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said.
It was 310 miles (500 km) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina was expected to be off the Canadian Maritimes by early Wednesday, bringing wind and rain to the Northeast.