Power lines are knocked down after Hurricane Wilma hit Playa del Carmen in Mexico's Caribbean state of Quintana Roo October 22, 2005. (Photo: Xinhua/AFP)

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- As Hurricane Wilma was approaching the southeastern US state of Florida, authorities issued a mandatory order on Saturday urging residents in the state's Key West islands to evacuate.

    The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Wilma, which already hit Mexico's Yucatan peninsula Friday and Cancun Saturday and had weakened into a Category 3 storm, could hit Florida on Monday.

    A mandatory order was issued Saturday asking residents in Key West to leave by Sunday, but people there started evacuation as early as Friday.

    With the storm's outermost rain already reaching parts of Florida Saturday, which caused minor flooding in some places, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had sent relief workersand materials into the state.

    "We're going to make sure we understand what's going on and we're able to respond when the state requests assistance," FEMA acting director David Paulison told NBC's "Today."

    The FEMA was criticized for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina that hit the Gulf Coast region late August, killing more than 1,200 people.

    The eye of Wilma, which would become the eighth hurricane to hit or pass by near Florida since August 2004, was inland over Mexico's northeastern Yucatan at 11 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), about 640km southwest of Florida's Key West, according to the hurricane center. Enditem