Forecasters said the storm could strengthen to a Category 5 hurricane before hitting land. Its slow progress delayed its expected arrival in Florida until early next week, but raised fears that it would have more time to dump rain and pummel Mexico's low-lying Mayan Riviera. The hurricane was expected to churn over the Yucatan for most of the weekend.
The hurricane's eye is so large it might take hours to pass over land, leading to fears that confused residents might leave shelters in the middle of the storm.
``The eye is very large, 65 kilometers across, and in those six or seven hours of apparent calm, people might get confused,'' said Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez Cantu, whose state includes Cancun.
After airports closed late Thursday, desperate tourists who had lined up for hours in a failed bid to get on the last planes out were instead shuttled from luxury hotels to sweaty emergency shelters, or crowded into hotel ballrooms used as storm shelters.
About 20,000 tourists remained at shelters and hotels on the mainland south of Cancun, and an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 in the city itself.
Devon Anderson, 21, from Sacramento, Calif., said he was packed into a local school with other Americans, and that the army never arrived to board up the windows.
``There's no food, no water,'' he said. ``We've pretty much just been deserted.''
Some, like 30-year-old Carlos Porta of Barcelona, Spain, were handed plastic bags with a pillow and blanket.
``From a luxury hotel to a shelter. It makes you angry. But what can you do?'' he said. ``It's just bad luck.''
In Cancun, high winds bent palm trees and waves gobbled the city's white-sand beaches. Nearly 50 hotels were evacuated, leaving the normally busy tourist zone deserted.
