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Random Encounter
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Chandler
Posts: 23,866
A$FN: 18,560
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Here comes Hurricane Dennis (now Category 4)
Heading the same path that Ivan did - with record warm Gulf water temperatures.......
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Dennis lashed eastern Cuba on Friday as forecasters warned the storm could strengthen as it passes over the Caribbean island and moves into the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters.
Dennis is already a powerful Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
As of 8 a.m. ET, the hurricane was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Havana, Cuba, and about 285 miles (460 kilometers) south-southeast of Key West, Florida.
Dennis was moving northwest at about 12 mph (19 kph), and its eye was expected to reach central Cuba later Friday.
The three-day forecast shows the storm could affect the U.S. Gulf Coast, anywhere from southwest Florida to southeast Louisiana.
On its current path, projected landfall would be along the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola on Sunday evening, though such predictions usually change due to the unpredictable behavior of hurricanes.
"The whole Florida Gulf Coast and even over to Alabama and Mississippi -- they need to pay very, very close attention to Hurricane Dennis," National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Thursday.
At Category 4, forecasters characterized Dennis as "extremely dangerous," capable of causing extensive damage and flooding. The most destructive hurricane class is Category 5.
"The eye is expected to remain over very warm water for about 12 more hours before landfall in Cuba, so additional strengthening is possible," forecasters said in a statement earlier Friday.
"Some slight weakening may occur over Cuba, but Dennis is forecast to remain as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane while in the Gulf of Mexico. ... This hurricane will likely cause devastation along its path."
Last year, Hurricane Ivan caused significant damage in the same area of the Gulf Coast.
Declaring an emergency and mobilizing state resources, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Dennis threatens a "major disaster" in a state still recovering from four hurricane strikes last year.
With the center of Dennis expected to pass west of Key West early Saturday, officials in Monroe County ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents of the lower islands, from the Seven Mile Bridge to Key West. Visitors and nonresidents had been told to leave earlier.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the lower Florida Keys from the Seven Mile Bridge west to the Dry Tortugas. The warning means hurricane conditions are forecasted in the area within 24 hours. The hurricane center urged people to rush preparations to protect life and property, forecasting 4 inches to 8 inches of rain and a storm surge of 3 feet to 6 feet around the low-lying islands.
With the storm's approach, other watches and warnings for parts of Florida also were issued:
A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch are in effect for the upper Florida Keys, east of the Seven-Mile Bridge to Ocean Reef, and Florida Bay, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within the next 24 hours and hurricane conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.
A tropical storm warning is also in effect for the southwest and southeast Florida coasts, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within the next 24 hours. On the Gulf side, the watch extends northward to Bonita Beach in Lee County and includes Naples; on the Atlantic Coast side, it extends up to Golden Beach and includes Miami.
A tropical storm watch is in effect for the Florida Gulf Coast from Bonita Beach northward to Longboat Key, near the mouth of Tampa Bay, which means tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.
At the Kennedy Space Center, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) north of Miami on the Atlantic, NASA managers will decide by noon Friday whether to roll the space shuttle Discovery off its launch pad and back into an assembly building.
Doing so could delay Wednesday's launch of Discovery, which would end a nearly 2 1/2-year break in the shuttle program that followed the Columbia disaster.
In Cuba, the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay closed its airport Thursday and prepared an evacuation plan but declined to provide details. A detention facility at Guantanamo houses about 520 prisoners from 44 countries, most of them captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan against al Qaeda and its allies.
Dennis could dump 5 inches to 10 inches of rain on Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands, with up to 15 inches possible in isolated areas of Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains, raising the possibility of life-threatening floods and mudslides, forecasters said.
The storm surge is expected to be 5 feet to 7 feet along the Cuban coast east of Cabo Cruz, but the surge could reach 20 feet in coastal areas to the west, forecasters warned.
CNN's Kate Tobin and Eric Fiegel contributed to this report.
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__________________
R.I.P Tim Minnick
The KING of Cards
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