For the first time in the show’s 46 years, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show has been postponed one week. This after hurricane Wilma caused significant damage and disruptions in the area.

In addition to the change in start date, the show will be shortened to four days instead of the usual five.

Before Hurricane Wilma hit Florida the show was expected to attract 125,000 people and bring in more than $600 million in business for lodging, restaurants and other local facilities. Now the city is in no position to handle that type of influx. As of Tuesday morning the Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau reported that 90% of the city’s hotel rooms were unavailable because of hurricane related damage or outages.

The show will suffer in many ways because of the schedule change. Many international visitors and exhibitors will need to leave because of previously arranged transportation issues.

Until the late 1970’s the show was held during the Independence Day weekend. This was changed to coincide with annual new model releases from boat builders. Since the change to an October date there has only been one other weather related schedule change. In 1982 the show closed a day early because of a storm threat.

As of Wednesday morning Fort Lauderdale remained under a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew. The city is also under a boil order for all water usage.

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