Tropical Storm Harvey (2005) - Hurricane Dennis

Hurricane Dennis

Tropical Depression Four formed in the southeastern Caribbean on the evening of July 4. Early the next day, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Dennis. The storm began moving rapidly to the west-northwest, and reached hurricane strength on the afternoon of July 6 while approaching the southern coast of Hispaniola. The next day it strengthened rapidly to become a Category 4 hurricane. Dennis moved between Jamaica and Haiti on July 7. Dennis reached its peak as the strongest recorded Atlantic storm to form before August with a minimum central pressure of 930 mbar just south of Cuba - a record that would stand only for eight days until Emily broke it. On July 8, Dennis passed over Cuba close to the capital, Havana. A second episode of rapid intensification occurred on July 9 as it moved north toward the Gulf Coast of the United States. Dennis made landfall as a Category 3 storm just southeast of Pensacola, Florida.

Dennis claimed at least 88 lives: 56 in Haiti, 16 in Cuba, 15 in the U.S. and 1 in Jamaica. Total damages are estimated at $4–6 billion USD, including $2.23 billion in the United States and the rest in the Caribbean. Dennis was most damaging to Cuba, where the storm wiped out a significant portion of the citrus crop. As the storm struck near the end of Cuba's dry season, farmers were not yet prepared for the heavy rainfall brought by the storm. In the United States, Dennis drew comparison with Hurricane Ivan of the previous year, but it was both smaller and weaker than Ivan at landfall and caused significantly fewer damages, partly because the region had not yet fully rebuilt.

• The NHC's archive on Hurricane Dennis
• The wpc's archive on Hurricane Dennis