KEY WEST, Fla. -- Hurricane Wilma was poised to begin what forecasters said would be a speedy and potentially devastating jaunt across Florida early Monday, with its outer bands spewing torrential rain and winds, spawning tornadoes and spreading fear over much of an already storm-weary peninsula.

Wilma, a strong Category 3 system, seemed destined to make landfall sometime around sunrise near the Naples-Marco Island area in Collier County. But severe weather began long before that almost inevitable occurrence.

---

Viewer Pics: Submit Your Hurricane Wilma Photos

Images: Yucatan Damage | Water Spout Spotted Off Key West

School Closings

NBC 6 Hurricane Hummer

Slideshow Forecast
New Images: NASA Animation | New Video
Images: Hurricane Wilma From Space | Video
Hurricane Tracker | Hurricane Center
Images: South Florida Prepares | Video

---

And instead of getting weaker as first expected, Wilma got stronger while nearing Florida. By 5 a.m. EDT Monday, the storm's maximum sustained winds were measured at 125 mph -- up 10 mph from late Sunday night.

"We handle the winds," Sammy Hamilton, the mayor of Everglades City, an isolated village of about 700 people near the anticipated landfall location, told CNN early Monday. "But the water kills us. We're right at sea level, so if this all happens the way you're saying, everybody will be in pretty bad shape."

Forecasters said the low-lying Florida Keys could experience a storm surge of 8 feet, with a 17-foot surge possible along parts of the state's southwest corner -- where flooding seemed more of a concern than the powerful winds that Wilma, Florida's eighth hurricane in 15 months, packed on its way to shore.

Latest Advisory

At 5 a.m. EDT, Wilma was centered about 55 miles southwest of Naples and moving northeast at about 20 mph. Hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extended 90 miles from the center and wind blowing at tropical storm-force reached outward 230 miles, the hurricane center said.

While landfall was expected far from the Keys, the storm's strongest winds were on its right side -- and forecasters feared that could mean trouble for the island chain. County officials said more than 90 percent of year-round Keys residents failed to heed evacuation warnings and were riding Wilma out at home.

"They're tired of leaving because of the limited damage they sustained during the last three hurricanes," said Sheriff Richard Roth, noting this was the fourth evacuation order for Monroe County this season.

Said resident Elaine Chinnis: "It seems like we know more than the weather people. They seem to over-exaggerate everything."

Early Monday, a few Key West streets were flooded, and the southernmost city in the continental United States was experiencing sustained winds of 60 mph -- with gusts of 76 mph. At the La Concha Hotel on Duval Street, water was dripping from the inside walls and ceilings and the lobby floor was soaked.

Conditions were certain to worsen.

More Than 22,000 Spend Night In Shelters

Power outages were reported in the Keys and along the southwest side of the state. More than 22,600 Floridians spent what almost certainly was an anxious night in dozens of shelters across the state's southern half. Wilma was expected to complete its path across the state by early Monday afternoon.

"This is a very dangerous hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "People need to stay hunkered down."

Virtually the entire peninsula was under some sort of storm-related watch or warning.

After meandering at a crawl through the Caribbean for several days, Wilma pulled away from the Yucatan peninsula as a Category 2 storm and was expected to speed "like a rocket" toward Florida.

And it did. Wilma accelerated steadily Sunday and into early Monday, bringing good and bad news to Floridians. A speedy Wilma wasn't expected to hover for long; however, it also wasn't expected to weaken significantly before reaching heavily populated Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"If it's going to hit, it's going to hit," said Tyre Bertrand, shopping for lumber to board her windows at a Lowe's in Miami Lakes on Sunday afternoon. "I just have faith in the man upstairs."

At the Six L farm worker camp south of Naples -- three miles off the ocean and not far from the projected landfall point -- workers nailed plywood to windows. Some with campers fled north; 90 farmworkers said they would ride out the storm.

"Where would we go? We've got no place to go," said Salome Rodriguez, 51.

Wind shear was expected to rob Wilma of some strength before landfall. But that didn't happen as planned, so the system kept intensifying as it neared Florida.

Tornadoes Reported Ahead Of Storm

Sunday night, four tornadoes were reported in the southern half of the state, including one near Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral that caused some structural damage, but no injuries. At least 31 counties -- covering more than half the state's population, and stretching all the way from Key West to the Orlando area -- were under either a tornado watch or warning Monday morning.

One significant storm-related injury was reported Sunday; a 12-year-old girl suffered a fractured skull when she and her mother tried to help a neighbor install hurricane shutters, said Palm Beach County Sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller.

Julia Bijuli-Singh was in critical condition at Delray Medical Center, Miller said. Hospital officials would not update her condition. The girl's mother was also hospitalized with cuts, Miller said.

In Singapore, crude prices fell Monday as traders expected Wilma to avoid already battered Gulf of Mexico oil producing and refining facilities as it accelerated toward Florida. At least four companies operating in the gulf shut down production platforms.

Forecasters also continued to monitor Tropical Depression Alpha on Monday, two days after that system formed off the Dominican Republic. Alpha briefly was a tropical storm, the record 22nd named storm for the Atlantic season. It was the first time the hurricane center exhausted the regular list of names and had to turn to the Greek alphabet.

Alpha wasn't considered a threat to the United States, and was expected to dissipate over the open Atlantic sometime Monday or early Tuesday.