IULY 13 - IULY 19, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
15
WEATHER
Hurricane falls short of predictions
Bill Starling/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Navarre Beach, Fla., Fire Chief Jim Wirth looks over the destroyed fire house July 11. The building was devastated by Hurricane Ivan less than a year ago, and again by Dennis.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAVARRE BEACH, Fla. — With a sigh of relief, Gulf Coast residents began hurricane cleanup — again.
Hurricane Dennis hit the storm-weary Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast on July 10 with less force than forecasters feared, sparing the region the widespread destruction caused by Ivan last September.
There was scattered flooding in Florida and Georgia, and more than 550,000 customers in four states were without power. Some were likely to be out for three weeks or more. However, officials reported little major structural damage.
"I think we dodged a pretty large bullet," said Nick Zangari, a restaurant and bar owner in Pensacola. "I think people took more precautions the second time around."
By 5 a.m. July 11, Dennis had weakened to a tropical depression centered over northeast Mississippi. As it moved north-northwest during the morning, rain fell across parts of the mid-Mississippi, Tennessee and lower Ohio valleys and into the Carolinas.
One band of rain stalled over Georgia and gave Peachtree City, a suburb of Atlanta, more than 6 inches in 18 hours, the National Weather Service said.
Dennis caused an estimated $1 billion to $2.5 billion in insured damage in the United States, according to a projection by AIR Worldwide Corp.of Boston, an insurance risk modeling company.
Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurance company, estimated the insured loss at $3 billion to $5 billion.
Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that while damage wasn't as widespread as expected, the storm was still devastating to those whose homes were damaged.
"We have to get help to them," he said on NBC's "Today." FEMA crews planned to be out July 11 distributing emergency supplies and will begin providing long-term relief, he said.
One death was reported, a man electrocuted in Fort Lau.
derdale when he stepped on a fallen power line, police spokesman Bill Schultz. Dennis was responsible for at least 20 deaths in the Caribbean.
Moving at 120 mph when it came ashore, Dennis was smaller than Ivan and weaker than when it churned through the Gulf of Mexico.
"We're really happy it was compact and that it lasted only so
long," said Mike Decker, who lost only some shingles and a fence at his Navarre home, near where the storm came ashore. "It was more of a show for the kids."
A show it was: striking less than 50 miles east of where Ivan came ashore, Dennis generated white-capped waves spewing four-story geysers over sea walls. Boats broke loose and bobbed like toys in the roiling ocean. Roofs went
flying, power lines fell and rain blew sideways in sheets.
There was scattered flooding. Some of the worst occurred in St. Marks, south of Tallahassee, where a marina, other businesses and homes were under water. The water had receded by July 11.
Flooding on U.S.98, the major coastal highway in the Panhandle, cut off main routes into beach communities. The Panama City Marine Institute also was under water.
Southern Georgia also had flooding, and people had to be rescued from about 400 homes in two counties, said Kandice Weech of the state Emergency Management Agency. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Dennis was the fifth hurricane to strike Florida in less than 11 months. President Bush issued a major disaster declaration for the state.
He also declared 38 counties in Mississippi and 45 counties in Alabama federal disaster areas, making them eligible for assistance from FEMA.