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Hurricane Dennis
A punch, but pulled
Dennis loses strength and drifts east, sparing Pensacola.
By CARRIE JOHNSON, GRAHAM BRINK, DAVID KARP and TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published July 11, 2005
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[Times photo: James Borchuck]
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PENSACOLA - A foreboding filled the car as neighbors John MacDonald and Darrell Robinson headed back to their homes Sunday evening after riding out Hurricane Dennis in a nearby hotel.
They remembered the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago.
As they rounded a corner onto their street, they couldn't control their joy: No damage this time.
"We started high-fiving each other like little kids," said Robinson, 44. "I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life."
Panhandle residents were expecting the worst from Dennis, with Ivan still seared in their minds. What they got was bad, but not as bad as it could have been.
A few hours before Dennis came ashore, cooler waters in the northern Gulf of Mexico sapped some of its strength. Dennis went from a Category 4 storm to a medium Category 3 when it hit shore.
The storm also jogged several miles to the east. The two factors spared Pensacola, the area's population center, a harder blow.
The damage was worse east of Pensacola, in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. On the other side of the Panhandle, small communities near Apalachee Bay, including St. Marks south of Tallahassee, suffered severe flooding.
Two deaths were reported as of Sunday evening, one during an evacuation and another at a shelter. About 236,000 customers were without power in the Florida Panhandle.
Dennis soon weakened to a tropical storm as it headed north through Alabama, dumping rain as it went. Today, the storm is expected to move through Mississippi and into Tennessee as a tropical depression.
Craig Fugate, director of Florida's emergency management division, urged emergency workers to move quickly. Don't assume Florida caught a break before full damage assesments can be done in daylight, he warned.
"It's very early to make assumptions," he said.
Vulnerable beaches
Dennis made landfall at 3:25 p.m. on Santa Rosa Island, about 12 miles east of Pensacola. The storm, moving about 20 mph, packed sustained winds of 115 to 120 mph. Waves measuring 20 feet and higher battered the barrier islands. The storm surge rose to 15 feet in some areas.
One of the harder hit areas was Navarre Beach, a five-mile long barrier island in Santa Rosa County. In the mid-1990s, hurricanes Opal and Erin damaged the berms, dunes and sea oats that protected the beach. Hurricane Ivan finished them off.
With the beach so vulnerable, Dennis' powerful waves pushed tons of sand onto roads and into businesses. Even four hours after the hurricane passed, five to 10 foot waves still churned off the beaches.
Dennis tipped a TV satellite truck, pushed it 75 yards and covered it in sand. The storm also tore off the center span of a pier that juts from the island.
Police believe that all residents evacuated the beach. They hoped to allow people back on Monday.
"The pier is broke in two, but it doesn't even compare to Ivan," said Sgt. Bart Bray of the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office.
The roof of the old courthouse came off and one tornado reportedly touched down, said Don Chinery, the public information officer for Santa Rosa County. Chinery said the storm was intense but passed through quickly.
"We hardly had any 911 calls," Chinery said.
Most of the affected counties reported few injuries Sunday evening. Two deaths were reported.
Christopher Miller, 3, of Defuniak Springs, fell out of a van as his family evacuated. He was crushed by the right front tire of a 1971 Chevrolet and pronounced dead at the scene. An unidentified 77-year-old man died of an apparent heart attack at a Pensacola shelter.
President Bush declared Escambia and Santa Rosa counties disaster areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was authorized to provide aid to government agencies and certain non-profits in 13 counties.
FEMA officials had food, water and medical supplies at the ready. The American Red Cross sent premade meals to the Panhandle and loaded trailers with supplies.
Gov. Jeb Bush said he hoped convoys with water, food, ice and emergency supplies could reach damaged areas by Monday afternoon. About 450 law enforcement officers and 750 members of the National Guard also are headed for the Panhandle.
About 1.8-million people from Florida to Mississippi were ordered to evacuate. In Florida, more than 9,000 people were in shelters Sunday. Others fled to hotels, motels and relatives' homes.
Bush said it appeared that people followed evacuation orders. Traffic on the roads peaked days ago, showing that residents were fleeing well in advance of the storm. He hoped residents who fled would remain away for the next couple of days.
"Don't come back immediately," he said. "There is no urgency."
Dodging a bullet
Dennis became the 27th hurricane to hit northwest Florida since 1900, the ninth major storm.
Sustained winds appeared to be slightly less than Ivan's and the storm dumped less rain on Panhandle communities. Dennis was smaller, too. The field of Dennis' strongest winds spanned 25 miles across, about half the distance of Ivan's.
Dennis also hit about 35 miles to the east of where Ivan struck 299 days earlier. The move put Pensacola on Dennis' west side, the weaker part of the hurricane. Pensacola was on Ivan's strong side.
Ivan was directly responsible for 25 deaths in the United States and $7.1-billion in insured losses, making it one of the most costly storms in U.S. history, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Some of the areas that were hardest hit by Ivan were virtually unscathed by Dennis.
"We dodged a major, major bullet," said George Touart, Escambia County administrator.
In Pensacola, where more than 5,000 residents still can't move into their homes because of Ivan, there was a palpable sense of relief.
The storm downed trees and damaged roofs. But roads were mostly free of debris. Some traffic lights were still working. And the 18-foot storm surge forecasters predicted never materialized.
The Interstate 10 bridge over Escambia Bay, mangled by Hurricane Ivan, appeared to survive Dennis. It will be closed through Monday for inspections.
"I hate to use the word "luck,' because our neighbors to the east were struck by a severe hurricane," said Matt Lopez, Escambia County's chief of emergency management. "But the damage here could have been worse than it was."
In nearby Grande Lagoon, neighbor Marvin Pawless joined MacDonald and Robinson on McDonald's second-story deck. Dennis spared Pawless' home as well. The three men immediately opened bottles of Miller Lite.
"We've got a lot to celebrate tonight," said MacDonald, 54.
MacDonald moved back into his home in January. Robinson followed in April. But Pawless' home is still uninhabitable and he was dreading another battle with the insurance companies.
"I just don't think I could have done it again," Pawless said. "We got really, really lucky."
--Times staff writer Chris Tisch and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Last modified July 11, 2005, 07:35:09]
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