NEWS: Dennis Now A 'Dangerous Hurricane'

Per my local news, power outages in parts of the Keys
And about 60,000 customers in Miami and Broward county without power as per FPL.

www.centredaily.com...
Sporadic power outages blinked through the region - about 30,000 customers in Miami-Dade and Broward losing electricity Friday night.

"We're working to get those customers restored as quickly as possible,'' said Kathy Scott, a spokeswoman for Florida Power & Light. "The nature of this storm looks as though it could cause problems throughout the night.''

[edit on 7-8-2005 by worldwatcher]

Current Information on Dennis:

DENNIS BACK TO A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE

As of 7 a.m. EDT Saturday, Hurricane Dennis was centered at 24.1 north and 83.2 west, about 95 miles south-southwest of Key West, Fla. Maximum sustained winds have increased to 105 mph with higher gusts and the central pressure is now 969 mb (28.61 inches). Most of the weakening that Dennis underwent was due to Dennis' interaction with the island of Cuba. Dennis is moving toward the northwest at 14 mph. Landfall still seems most likely later Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening on the north-central Gulf Coast between the Alabama-Mississippi border and the western Florida panhandle. This means conditions will begin to deteriorate in these coastal communities about sunrise Sunday.

A hurricane warning remains in effect for Cuba for the provinces of La Habana...Ciudad De La Habana...Matanzas...Villa Clara... Cienfuegos. At 5 a.m. hurricane warnings have been discontinued for Sancti Spiritus provinces on eastward. A hurricane watch remains in effect for the Isle Of Youth and the province of Pinar Del Rio.


A hurricane warning is also in effect for the lower Florida Keys from the Seven Mile Bridge westward to the Dry Tortugas. A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch are in effect for the remainder of the Florida Keys...east of the Seven Mile Bridge to Ocean Reef and Florida Bay.


A hurricane warning is in effect for portions of the northeastern Gulf Coast from the Steinhatchee River westward to the mouth of the Pearl River.

New ATS Discussion:

Hurricane Dennis pics - my yard

Originally posted by marg6043
Take care Muaddib, and stay safe, for the first time in weeks we have the best clear skies and no so humid weather today in GA.

I have family in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and west palm beach.

Thanks marg, you also take care. Hope everyone in your family is ok. In my area we didn't lose power, we had some strong wind in the evening that woke me up as it battered the windows in my house, but luckily nothing else happened. It is still cloudy right now, with some wind, but nothing to get worried about.

Does anyone know where the hurricane is at right now?

Originally posted by Muaddib

Does anyone know where the hurricane is at right now?

Here:



Good to hear from you Muaddib.

Hope you and yours are all still safe.

Thanks Gazz, the family in Florida is ok, we are still worried about our family in Cuba, we can't reach them yet and it will take some time before we hear anything from them. It takes a lot longer for things to get fixed in Cuba if they get fixed at all.

Originally posted by Muaddib
Thanks Gazz, the family in Florida is ok, we are still worried about our family in Cuba, we can't reach them yet and it will take some time before we hear anything from them.

You have my thoughts and prayers, and I am sure those of many ATS members with you and your family Muaddib.

Cuba was hit hard by this storm. As you said it may take a long time to get communications back up.

I hope you are soon able to hear from your family in Cuba.

Please, if possible keep us posted.


Gazz

Was looking for some information on the casualties in Cuba and found the following report.

The storm had strengthened Friday morning to a Category 4 with winds reaching 150 miles per hour, but weakened as it passed over Cuba. A reconnaissance plane measured maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour early Saturday.

It was expected to gain strength as it emerged over the Florida Straits and into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico later in the day.
...................
Dennis was the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Caribbean, according to Colin McAdie, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
...................
The U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo escaped the brunt of the storm. Heaving surf tore away a lifeguard tower at Windmill Beach and winds destroyed a bus shelter. A few power lines and tree branches were knocked down and there was minor flooding.

"Actually, everybody fared real well," said Navy Cmdr. Anne Reese.

Excerpted from.
dailynews.att.net...

According to the information given, most of the people that died in Cuba were either close to the sea or were on a bridge, like the child that died as his mother tried to cross a bridge.

There are many homes in Cuba that are made of plywood, or anything else that people can find to protect them from the rain, the other homes are really old and many of them have not been repaired for years because the government would not pay for that.

I expect the figures of dead in Cuba being much higher but fidel as always changes the information to suit his needs. The poor conditions of houses in Cuba, the trash that is kept on the streets for months and keeps piling up, which is not put in containers like in other countries, were projectiles for the winds when the hurricane hit Cuba.

My own family in Cuba do not live close to the sea, so that's a relief because they would not have suffered the brunt of what the hurricane did to the people living close to the coast.

Last night the news channel "univision" reported in spanish waves up to 60 feet high, but i think that was a slip of the reporter. I doubt the waves were that high, in this article it states that waves were about 10 feet high once the hurricane hit Cuba.

Record keeping for named storms in the caribean began in 1851, and according to the records this is the earliest any named storm, in this case 4 named storms, or hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic.


[edit on 9-7-2005 by Muaddib]

Currently over 50,000 in Broward County and 100,000 in Miami Dade County without power.

I'm glad the city buried all of utility lines in my neighborhood over the last 2 years.

1pm Advisory, Dennis now a Cat 2 again with 100mph winds, pressure down to 965, seems to be reorganizing again.
www.nhc.noaa.gov...

I was able to talk to my family in Cuba. The area they are in did not suffer the worse damage of the hurricane and everyone is fine. However my grandmother told me that the deaths that were reported were due to walls collapsing on people, or like the other case i mentioned of a mother trying to cross a bridge with her sons and one of them falling to the raging waters. Sad events, but it could have been worse.

1 AM Eastern, 7/10 Back at Cat 4 135mph, and won't weaken till later today. 310 miles south of Biloxi, Mississippi.

www.nhc.noaa.gov...

Does anybody else get the feeling that this is going to be a crappy summer?

I think it's gonna be quiet out this way. I hope so anyway. We're overdue for our next hurricane. We've had some close calls, but nothing in 12 years or so.

cindy was worse where i am. but further east, board up yer windows and get outta there, cuz hes a commin for yeh!

Look at the past storm tracks and you'll see why. Things seem to vary. I don't quite see a pattern, but the way they move is changing again. They're turning North a lot later, both on the East Coast and in the gulf. That's also the reason for this one and Ivan- Gulf Coast hurricanes are getting longer to build and not touching much land on the way in sometimes.

The comforting thing is that you can see variations in past maps too. They'll start in different places and follow different paths for bursts of like 4 or 5 years it looks like. Almost makes me wonder if there's some sort of an El Nino thing changing where they form and where they go more or less at random.

For now though, anybody who used to get hit a lot might be safe, and people who aren't used to getting spanked might be getting spanked hard and often. Just my uneducated guess from a few minutes of looking.

It now looks like Dennis will remain a category 4 hurricane with winds near 145 mph. and could have a storm surge of 14 to 17 feet before making land-fall late Sunday.

As of 3:00 AM EDT, Hurricane Dennis was a Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. The lowest pressure is 934 millibars; which is a drop of 36 millibars within the last 20 hours.

As of 3 a.m. EDT Sunday, Hurricane Dennis was centered at 27.4 north and 85.9 west, or about 195 miles south of Panama City, Florida (275 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi). Maximum sustained winds are 145 mph, with gusts to near 165 mph. The minimum central pressure is 934 mb (27.58 inches). Dennis is moving to the northwest near 14 mph. The barometric pressure within the hurricane has dropped a dramatic 36 millibars during a 20-hour time span, which is why it has become a Category 4 hurricane again.

While the window of where the eye will make landfall closes with time, there is still some uncertainty over exactly where it will be. The best chance is between extreme southeastern Louisiana and the western Florida panhandle. The storm is being steered around a high pressure area in the upper atmosphere east of Florida. The axis of that high is located over southeast Alabama and southern Georgia on east and how strong this ridge remains will be the determining factor in exactly where it comes in. The time of landfall should be Sunday afternoon or evening.

Dennis is a large storm, and the effects will be felt far and wide. Southern Florida has been dealing with strong winds, flooding rains, and severe thundestorms since yesterday, and will continue to over the next 24 hours, with this activity spreading northward into central Florida today. Winds have gusted to 74 mph at Key West early Saturday morning; the first time that hurricane force gusts have been felt in Key West since Hurricane Georges in September of 1998. Dennis' tropical storm force winds extend out to about 230 miles, so tropical storm force winds are already present along and just off the west coast of Florida. (Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center). The threat for severe thunderstorms will also extend into northern Florida overnight and Sunday. The strong wind flow around the storm will also lead to a storm surge of 3-5 feet along the southwest coast of Florida. Bands of thunderstorms arcing into the Florida panhandle are at the northern part of the hurricane's effects.

Remember Ivan from last year?

Ivan was a category 3 hurricane and hit in just about the same area Dennis is now headed. Ivan caused billions of dollars in damage.




[edit on 10-7-2005 by UM_Gazz]

That eye is scary. With an organized eye like that, it's only going to get stronger until it hits land. If it's organized enough, it's possible it can remain a major storm until it hits water again off the East Coast.

From the wind track projections shown in the image below it looks like Mobile Alabama could get a direct hit.

With the storm surge between 14 and 17 feet in this area and the fact that Mobile is is just 20-30 feet above sea level this storm could cause major flooding along with the wind damage.


source

FYI, these images posted here have been uploaded and do not update with refresh.

[edit on 10-7-2005 by UM_Gazz]

flhurricane.com...

(Updates every 20seconds)



[edit on 7/10/2005 by QuietSoul]

Pensacola Cam

Originally posted by ShadowHasNoSource
Pensacola Cam

Thank you Shadow!

In the current web cam on the linked page you provided you can already see with Dennis still far off they already have rough seas in Pensacola.

This storm has the potential of doing a hell of a lot of damage through flooding, extreme winds and even tornados.

And from projections it could remain a hurricane as far in-land as mid-Mississippi.

An awesome display of nature's power.

[edit on 10-7-2005 by UM_Gazz]

Probable Strike Zone
(Source)



6:00am
(Source)

Panama City Tower Cam
(cam pans periodically)

[edit on 7-10-2005 by ShadowHasNoSource]