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A day later, Panhandle copes with power outages, flooding
By JONI JAMES
Published July 11, 2005
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[Times photo: James Borchuck]
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TALLAHASSEE - More than a quarter-million power customers across the Florida Panhandle awoke today without power thanks to Hurricane Dennis.
And residents far east of where the storm's eye struck land coped with the aftermath of significant flooding caused by the storm surge.
Nonetheless, the damage was far less than originally anticipated in a region still trying to recover from last year's Hurricane Ivan.
"There's a little bit of sadness and a little bit of a sense of relief," Gov. Jeb Bush said just before he boarded a military helicopter to tour the damage. The flight, however, was delayed due to thunderstorms.
"The sadness is that there are a ton of people that had a direct hit on a significant hurricane," Bush said. "But it could have been seriously worse."
Hurricane Dennis, at one time a Category 4 storm that appeared to aim head-on for Pensacola, weakened just before landfall Sunday afternoon and dodged east, wreaking the worst havoc on Navarre Beach, a barrier island in Santa Rosa County. Officials said 98 percent of the power customers were dark.
In neighboring Escambia and Okaloosa counties, three out of four customers did not have power. Several other Panhandle counties also reported spot outages.
Meanwhile, those living in the coastal town of St. Marks, roughly 200 miles east and just south of Tallahassee, worked to recover from the chest-high flooding caused by the storm surge.
[Last modified July 11, 2005, 10:59:02]
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