Category 4 hurricane targets Gulf

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/NEWS01/507080322/1006

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Dennis is expected to make landfall between Mobile Bay and Apalachicola as a Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 120 mph and a Gulf of Mexico storm surge of about 10 to 15 feet, said Jack Bevin, hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

The center of the forecast track has shifted closer to Destin, but the Pensacola Bay Area remains well within the potential strike cone.

Dennis is comparable in size to Ivan. As of Thursday evening, the hurricane-force winds extended about 50 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extended up to 140 miles, Hurricane Center officials said. Forecasters said the storm could continue to strengthen as it was over water.

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http://www.carthagepress.com/articles/2005/07/08/apindex/headlines/d8b7aem80.txt

Hurricane Lashes Cuba With 150 Mph Winds
By BEN FOX

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, Cuba - Packing devastating 150 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.

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Cuba evacuated more than 100,000 people from the southeast on Thursday, civil defense officials said on state television. Hundreds of tourists were taken to hotels in Havana and northern Varadero beach resort.

Thousands of students at government boarding schools were being sent home, and livestock was moved to higher ground.

The largest and most populous Caribbean island with 11.2 million people, Cuba suffers few hurricane casualties because the government cautiously evacuates people en masse, sometimes forcefully.

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http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/07/08/afx2130134.html
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'It is a very strong Category Four, almost a Category Five' the strongest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, he added.

Rubiera said the city of Cienfuegos would be lashed and that Cienfuegos Bay could be hit by a storm surge of five meters (15 feet).

The monster storm was expected to cross Cuba, population 11 million, over central provinces including La Habana -- where the capital of Havana is located -- Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Sancti Spiritus.

More than 600,000 people have been evacuated to shelters and relative safety, Cuban authorities say. But the figure is preliminary and evacuations were still under way including in the capital.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TROPICAL_WEATHER_US?SITE=FLPET
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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) -- People in the Florida Keys were ordered to flee and residents along hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast began boarding up Thursday as a rapidly strengthening Hurricane Dennis took aim at the storm-weary region.

Forecasters warned residents from Florida to Louisiana to be ready this weekend for Dennis, with top winds already at 135 mph. The hurricane turned into a Category 4 storm Thursday evening as it gained strength while barreling through the Caribbean toward the Gulf of Mexico.
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Forecasters warned that it might score a direct hit on the island chain

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/weather/orl-bkdennis-070805,0,4849654.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

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KEY WEST -- Hurricane Dennis dropped rain, whipped up seas and generated gusty winds today in the Florida Keys as the deadly 145-mph storm threatened to hit or brush by the island chain on the way into the Gulf of Mexico.

Many residents weren't taking the strong Category 4 storm for granted after four hurricanes pummeled the state last year -- they boarded up windows, filled their cars with gas and heeded orders to flee vulnerable areas.

The Keys weren't the only possible target -- forecasters said the northern Gulf Coast could be hit as early as Sunday, an area still recovering from last year's Hurricane Ivan.

At 2 p.m. Dennis' eye was making landfall on the southern coast of Cuba about 125 miles southeast of Havana, or roughly 190 miles south-southeast of Key West. It was moving northwest at about 17 mph. Dennis was already blamed for at least five deaths in Haiti.

About an inch of rain fell today in the Keys as winds stayed breezy, but conditions were expected to worsen as Dennis barreled over Cuba and closed in early Saturday. The projected path of the season's first hurricane shifted slightly, seeming to show Key West in less danger of a direct hit. The island, a haven for tourists and eccentrics, has not been struck by a major hurricane in almost six decades.

"If things hold together, the storm should pass west of Key West by about 75 miles," said Chris Hennon, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "I would say (a direct hit) is not likely but you can't rule it out yet."

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