POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- Simple tasks such as buying gas, cooking food and even turning on the lights got a little easier Friday, with power restored to nearly half the homes and businesses that lost it during Hurricane Wilma.

"I think overall it's getting better and better each day," said Donald Cloman, who bought gas at a station with a short line in Fort Lauderdale.

The department said oil companies got backup generators to their retailers, and the state's largest utility, Florida Power & Light, focused on restoring electricity to stations and supermarkets. Power returned for most of the fuel depot at Port Everglades, which supplies stations across South Florida.

The utility said it had returned power to about 45 percent of the more than 6 million people who lost it but said restoration of service for all of the remaining 3.6 million people might take until Thanksgiving week.

In the days after Wilma crossed the state's southern section Monday, many gas stations had fuel but no electricity, and others that had electricity ran out of fuel. Tempers ran short and shouting matches started at some stations when people tried cutting in line.

The region's three largest airports were open to commercial traffic, and tourists Friday were allowed to return to parts of the Keys, where Wilma's storm surge caused extensive flooding. Key West was to remain closed to visitors until Monday.

Risk Management Solutions, a risk modeling firm, said new estimates projected that Wilma's insured losses in the United States ranged from $8 billion to $12 billion, up from previous estimate of $2 billion to $10 billion. That would make Wilma the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history, after Katrina and Andrew.

The company said its increase was made after a closer look at damage to roofs and high-rise windows. It also said that as power remains out, many companies will file business interruption insurance claims.

Wilma hit Florida after a destructive ride through the Caribbean and Mexico's Yucatán peninsula. The storm was blamed for 14 deaths in Florida. Wilma also killed at least 12 people in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

The last of Mexico's hurricane-struck tourists were emptying out of the Caribbean coast on Friday, even as area hotels prepared for planeloads of new guests.

Only about 5,000 tourists, many of them Americans, were waiting to leave Cancun, according to the U.S. Embassy. Most were waiting at hotels or shelters for a flight out. That was down from a peak of nearly 40,000 trapped inside shelters when Wilma smashed into the resort region Oct. 21.

More than two days of furious winds caused what Mexico's insurance industry said was the costliest disaster in Mexican history. By Friday, many in the region were desperate for running water.

President Vicente Fox was met with shouts of protest on Friday as he visited the small island of Holbox, where many said they have received no food or water. "Zero bureaucracy," Fox replied, promising a "quick solution."

Cuban President Fidel Castro will let U.S. aid officials assess damage from Hurricane Wilma in hopes of fostering cooperation in the region, including between Cuba and the United States -- adversaries without diplomatic relations for more than four decades.

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