Florida Assesses Damage From Dennis

Damage assessment was under way across north Florida Monday following Hurricane Dennis, a strong, fast-moving storm that claimed one Florida life.

Late Monday morning, the tropical depression remains of the storm brought rains to northeast Mississippi as the system moved out of Alabama, the National Weather Service said.

Dennis came ashore Sunday afternoon east of Pensacola with winds gusting at 121 mph, which set a state record. State meteorologist Ben Nelson said a major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — has never hit Florida in July since officials began keeping records in 1851.

A 3-year-old boy in Mossy Head was killed Saturday when his family’s van rolled over him as they prepared to evacuate, the Tampa Tribune reported. Before hitting Florida, Dennis claimed 20 lives in Haiti and Cuba.

By Sunday evening, about 470,000 customers were without power, and some outages were expected to last more than two weeks, the report said.

Wind advisories were posted for western Tennessee through 7 p.m.