PENSACOLA, Fla., (Reuters):
HURRICANE DENNIS raced ashore on the United States Gulf Coast on Sunday with ferocious 120-mph (195 kph) winds and pounding waves that lashed an area still scarred by last year's storms.
Dennis weakened before it made landfall from a powerful Category Four hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale to a Category Three. Officials said the destruction left in the hurricane's wake might be limited somewhat because the storm is moving quickly through the region.
Nevertheless, it was as strong as September's Hurricane Ivan, which came ashore near Pensacola and killed 25 people, caused US$14 billion in damages and destroyed or damaged 13 oil drilling platforms in the gulf.
"I'm pleased that the winds died a bit," said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
CATEGORY DIFFERENCES
But, paraphrasing U.S. National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield, Bush added: "The difference between a Category Three and a Category Four is the difference between being hit by a semi (semi-trailer truck) and a freight train."
The hurricane's eyewall, its intense central core, swept ashore with a storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.6 metres) at 3:25 p.m. EDT (1925 GMT) on Santa Rosa Island between Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach, the hurricane centre said.
"It's pretty rough. The eyewall came right through and hit us, it looks pretty bad," said Santa Rosa County emergency management spokeswoman Jennifer Terry.
"We were recovering from Ivan and this has hampered that. But we are going to recover from this one."
DAMAGE
It was too early to assess damage, but few emergency calls were received during the storm, she said. "People, I think, really did heed the warnings to get out," Terry said.
Officials told more than 1.2 million people to evacuate low-lying areas in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Power was cut to thousands of customers along the coast, including 78,000 in Alabama, and officials told residents to remain indoors until today.
The killer storm, which claimed 32 lives in Cuba and Haiti before entering the Gulf of Mexico, weakened to a Category Two hurricane once it moved inland. But its 105 mph (170 kph) winds still threatened to bring dangerously heavy rainfall to Alabama and eastern Mississippi as it headed to the Ohio Valley.
