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July 08, 2005
Hurricane Dennis

Hurricane Dennis has strengthened to a category 4 hurricane.

The storm is working its way through Haiti now and headed towards the Florida panhandle.

The Hurricane Center in Miami said the eye was swirling over water about 230 miles southeast of Havana, Cuba, and about 285 miles southeast of Key West, Fla. It was moving to the northwest at about 12 miles an hour.

It has already killed five people in Haiti and people from the Florida Keys to Louisiana are fleeing or making preparations in advance of Dennis's arrival.

Forecasters warned residents from Florida to Louisiana to be ready this weekend for Hurricane Dennis, with top winds already at 135 mph. The Category 4 storm was projected to hit the Gulf Coast by Sunday and the National Hurricane Center warned Dennis had become "an extremely dangerous" storm.

Gov. Jeb Bush has already declared a state of emergency.

You can track Dennis here. We'll be giving the storm full coverage, so stay tuned for news, updates, links and emergency/evactuation postings.

10:51:

Dennis closes in on Cuba:

Packing devastating 135 mph winds, Hurricane Dennis tore down a guard tower at the U.S. detention camp for terror suspects as it stalked Cuba's south coast and prepared Friday to strike into the heart of the largest Caribbean island.

[...]

The eye was taking aim at central Cuba Friday morning from 60 miles at sea, a few miles short of the storm's most dangerous winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"It's right off the coast, they'll be getting hurricane-force winds before long if they haven't already,'' meteorologist Trisha Wallace told The Associated Press by telephone from the center in Miami.

Hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles with tropical storm force winds stretching another 140 miles. Dennis was moving northwest near 12 mph.

Three day track - click for bigger.

--

3:40pm

  • Southern Walton County in the Florida Panhandle will be evacuated beginning at 4 p.m. Friday.
  • Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was ordered evacuated. The evacuees were told to get at least 100 miles away from the base by noon Saturday.
  • The Lower Keys Medical Center closed, and even emergencies were not treated.
  • Florida and Alabama remained under a state of emergency declared by their governors.

[Via AP]

Forecasting Dennis: Why it may get stronger

Posted by Michele at July 8, 2005 09:04 AM | TrackBack
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