Mop-up begins after Dennis sweeps Gulf Coast

3 known deaths in U.S.
Dennis was responsible for at least 20 deaths in the Caribbean and a handful in the United States, including a 3-year-old boy run over by his father’s car as the family was preparing to evacuate in DeFuniak Springs, a man electrocuted in Fort Lauderdale when he stepped on a fallen power line, and a Georgia man killed in his sleep by a falling poplar tree.

Gov. Jeb Bush, who toured the landfall zone of Florida’s fifth hurricane in 11 months, downplayed the idea that Dennis was a dud.

“It didn’t fizzle out. It was a Category 2 storm that hit. It’s going to create serious problems for a lot of people,” he said. ’I think we were all expecting it to be so far worse. So from that baseline, we say, ‘OK good.’ But this was a serious storm.”

About 383,000 were without power Monday afternoon, including 242,000 in Florida.

Dennis caused an estimated $1 billion to $2.5 billion in insured damage in the United States, according to a projection by AIR Worldwide Corp. of Boston, an insurance risk modeling company. Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurance company, estimated the insured loss at $3 billion to $5 billion.

Monday afternoon, authorities bused residents of Navarre Beach over the bridge and allowed them to walk down the sand-choked road to explore their homes.

‘True waterfront property’
Large portions of the island’s main road were buckled or washed away. Other sections were draped with pieces of parking lot or covered in the powdery-white sand. A restaurant still being repaired from Ivan was razed to its floorboards.

Helmeted teams of firefighters fanned out across the island looking for stragglers who might have ridden out the storm.

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Water lapped at the foundations of some Gulf-front condos, the sand washed out from beneath the concrete.

“True waterfront property,” quipped Santa Rosa County sheriff’s Lt. Hank Shirah.

Dennis’ destruction appeared to be very selective, as most homes around the ones most heavily damaged were intact. With some, it was hard to tell if Ivan or Dennis were to blame.

In Pensacola Beach, Susan and John Myrick took their first look at how Dennis peeled back the roof off their third-floor condominium, leaving a ceiling fan and light still hanging in place from the rafters.

‘Ultimate sun roof’
“This is maybe the ultimate sun roof,” John Myrick said as he looked into the sky through his master bedroom ceiling. The couple also replaced five roofs on rental properties after Ivan.

Along the Florida line in Flomaton, Ala., a town once known for its big, beautiful oak trees, it was hard not to find a yard without at least one tree down, some on top of homes.

“There’s no plan for something that’s this devastating. It’s depressing to come through Ivan and to have escaped and now have this happen,” said Ronald Carnley, a barber who was cleaning up after Dennis ripped off the roof.

Meanwhile, a fifth tropical depression was far out in the Atlantic on Monday. Forecasters said it was could become a tropical storm in the next day or two; it would be named Emily.

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