Hurricane Dennis menaces storm-scarred U.S. coast

By Marc Serota

PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) – Hurricane Dennis thundered
toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday with ferocious winds and
waves that threatened potentially massive destruction in an
area still bearing the scars of the last storm season.

After killing 32 people in Cuba and Haiti in the Caribbean,
Dennis roared northward in the Gulf of Mexico with 140 mph (226
kph) winds capable of shredding roofs, and a 10- to 15-foot (3
meter to 4.6 meter) storm surge that could swamp towns.

By 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), Dennis’ winds had weakened by 5
mph (8 kph) from earlier in the morning as the sprawling storm
swept over slightly cooler waters in the northern Gulf.

But it remained a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step
Saffir-Simpson scale — stronger than Hurricane Ivan was when
it came ashore last September and killed 25 people, caused $14
billion in damages and destroyed or damaged 13 oil drilling
platforms in the Gulf.

“We still think it’ll make landfall at Category 4 or
borderline Category 3 and 4,” Ed Rappaport, deputy director of
the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, told CNN.

“These are really dangerous storms and the devastation that
could take place is something that we’ve already seen,” warned
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President Bush.

Authorities in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi urged more
than 1.2 million people in vulnerable low-lying areas to leave
their homes and many heeded the warning, streaming away in long
lines of cars all day Saturday and draining gas stations dry.

“We’ve deployed a lot of resources. We’ve pre-positioned
medical, water, food, other kinds of supplies,” Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told ABC’s “This Week.”

“But people have to be braced for a very serious storm.”

In Pensacola, emergency officials told residents who
decided to ride the storm out at home to write their names in
waterproof ink across their chests in case they were killed and
needed to be identified, WFOR television reported.

“Well I figured I could ride it out but the latest news is
a bit grim,” Jimmy Redd said as he abandoned his home and
trudged through gusty squalls to the Pensacola civic center,
which was serving as a shelter for 2,500 people.

PENSACOLA SURGES

Flat as glass a day before, Pensacola bay on Sunday morning
turned into a heaving 4- to 6-foot (1.2 meter to 1.8 meter)
sea, washing over the bridges connecting the outlying barrier
island and the Pensacola U.S. Naval Air Station to the
mainland. Waves surged over the top of a 25-foot-high
(7.6-meter-high) pier.

Dennis at noon (1600 GMT) was located 65 miles to the
south-southeast of Pensacola, and had picked up speed to travel
at around 18 mph (29 kph), the hurricane center said. Its core
of most intense winds was expected to come ashore by 4 p.m.
(2000 GMT), state officials said.

Sheets of rain raced across the choppy water at Pensacola,
where blue tarps still cover houses whose roofs were damaged by
Ivan, and forecasters warned that Dennis could bring rainfall
of 15 inches (38 cm) in the area where it makes landfall.

Energy companies pulled workers off oil rigs and shut down
some crude and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico,
where the United States gets a quarter of its oil and gas.

Along the Gulf Coast, some people shuttered their houses
with recycled boards bearing the words “Go Away Ivan.”

Ivan was one of an unprecedented four hurricanes to hit
Florida in a six-week period last season. Florida officials
said 40,000 homes statewide had not been fixed yet.

Before heading north through the Gulf, Dennis brushed past
the popular tourist island of Key West on Florida’s southern
tip. State officials said around 100,000 houses and businesses
were without power Sunday morning.

The hurricane hit Cuba on Friday with 150 mph (240 kph)
winds and crumpled houses, uprooted trees and downed power
lines. But its winds weakened to 90 mph (145 kph) as it crossed
the island of 11 million people before roaring into the Gulf
late on Friday night

Ten people were killed in Cuba and 22 in Haiti. (Additional
reporting by Cathy Donelson in Mobile, Michael Christie in
Miami and Jennifer Portman in Tallahassee)