Remembering Hurricane DENNIS July 10, 2005

Dennis caused extensive damage to structures on Pensacola Beach.

Four years ago, shell shocked residents learned that a new threat was forming in the Gulf of Mexico, just 10 months after the "100 year storm" named Ivan rolled ashore.

Hurricane Dennis, a category 3 storm, struck Santa Rosa Island in the afternoon of July 10, the second blow of a onetwo punch that devastated many homes, businesses and lives.

"Our apprehension level was high because Ivan was just the year before," Buz Eddy, Gulf Breeze city manager remembers. "It was a fast moving storm that didn't dump as much rainfall or have the tidal surge" compared to Ivan. He said the work crews were much more experienced the second time around.

"The fire department and city staff got the streetcleared in hours," Eddy said, mainly because most of the vegetation was stripped away 10 months before.

Chris Dupuis was in the process of repairing his home on Pensacola Beach from Ivan damages when Dennis hit.

"Lord, here we go again," he remembers thinking while hearing reports that Dennis was aiming at our area. He and his wife bought the home in 2002, gutted it and renovated it. The result was the subject of a five page article in the Pensacola News Journal. One month later, a repairman accidentally punctured a pipe, resulting in a flood that destroyed the custom cabinetry and hardwood floors. That renovation from that damage was completed on September 9, and two days later, Hurricane Ivan hit, destroying the home.

Eddy

"It took us two years to redo the house. After the third time, we never moved back," Dupuis said. "It was devastating. I never want to go through that again."

At Dupuis' cell phone business, he experienced first hand the anguish customers had and had a hand in helping them.

When he returned to check on his business after Ivan hit in 2004, he was followed inside by a man who asked for help charging his phone. Dupuis offered a plug in charger or a car charger.

"The man started crying, saying, 'my car and my house were destroyed'," Dupuis recalls. A lady came in next, asking for help communicating with her family. That's when he began giving away car chargers and extra batteries for free.

Batten

"We gave away over $1,000 worth of retail products, never expecting payment. It came back three-fold because of the way we treated them after Ivan," Dupuis said.

But after Dennis hit, business fell off at the store as some residents decided they couldn't cope with the constant worry about storms on the horizon, or about evacuating on a moment's notice, so they decided to leave the area.

Insurance agent Angie Batten remembers the era well.

"We had back-to-back catastrophes. The Navarre area was hit worse by Dennis, flooding some of Navarre and Fort Walton Beach,Batten said. "Whatever Ivan didn't hit, Dennis did."

She said the population, once eager to review their insurance policies, may be getting complacent due to the three years since Dennis struck. She notices that some people are electing not to renew their flood insurance policies, which are regulated by the federal government to provide $250,000 worth of coverage on the structure and $100,000 worth of coverage on the contents, for $348 per year.

Jerry Eubanks, Superintendent of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, remembers Hurricane Dennis well.

Tornadoes and strong winds associated with category 3 Hurricane Dennis peeled back roofs, uprooted trees and tossed steel structures around.

"You know, when Ivan took the roads out in 2004 and we rebuilt both of them (J. Earle Bowden Way, linking Pensacola Beach to Navarre Beach, and Fort Pickens Road), neither one of them were finished when Dennis struck. J. Earle Bowden Way was open for a couple of days before for the Blue Angels event, and the Fort Pickens Road was schedule to open within three days," Eubanks said.

Two tropical storms, Arlene and Cindy, interrupted progress on road repair, but "Dennis was the crowning blow," he said.

Both roads opened this year after years of planning, construction and waiting for shore birds to nest.

Pine trees in the National Seashore, already stressed due to a drought prior to the storms, died standing up due to salt spray on the foliage and from pine beetles.

In the past three years, Northwest Florida avoided serious damage from monster hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, but residents of the Gulf Coast who live in paradise know better than to turn a blind eye to the sea.

Gulf front homes along Pensacola Beach suffered damage from Dennis. Piers were no match for the impact of Hurricane Dennis.