Florida CUs authorized to close for Wilma

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (10/21/05)--Florida's Office of Financial Regulation Thursday gave the state's credit unions and other state, national and federally chartered financial institutions authority to close under emergency conditions, prompted by the impending landfall of Hurricane Wilma.

Wilma is set to strike somewhere along the southwestern portion of the state on Sunday. The projected track could take the hurricane anywhere between Tampa and the Florida Keys, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Wilma, whose sudden earlier jump to a Category 5 Hurricane packing 175 mph winds surprised the weather predictors, had weakened slightly to a Category 4 storm Thursday. In comparison, Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, was a Category 4 when it hit landfall.

Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Wilma "is still a very, very powerful hurricane. Don't minimize this just because it's no longer a Category 5." (CNN Oct. 20).

According to the Florida Credit Union League, Don B. Saxon, the commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation, proclaimed "emergency conditions in Florida that may be caused by Hurricane Wilma" and authorized closure of credit unions and other financial institutions located in the area targeted by the hurricane.

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