Effects of Hurricane Dennis in Mississippi

The Effects of Hurricane Dennis in Mississippi were mostly minor and included one indirect death. On June 29, 2005, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa. Gradually, the system organized on July 2 and formed a broad low-pressure area. The system continued to develop, and became a tropical depression on July 4. Tracking westward, it became a tropical storm on July 5 and a hurricane on July 7. Dennis rapidly intensified to attain Category 4 status on the Saffir–Simpson scale before making landfall on Cuba. The hurricane weakened to Category 1 status before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico and intensifying to Category 4 strength. Dennis made landfall on the Florida Panhandle on July 10 as a Category 3 hurricane, then tracked over southeast Alabama and entered Mississippi as a tropical depression.

Dennis lightly affected Mississippi, dropping between 1–5 inches (25–127 millimetres) of rainfall and producing wind gusts up to 59 mph (95 km/h), causing several hundred trees to uproot or snap and damaging a total of 21 homes and businesses. Over 40 structures were flooded, forcing 200 people to leave their homes. One indirect death occurred from a traffic accident in Jasper County due to wet roads. During the height of the storm, 24,000 customers were without power. In all, Hurricane Dennis caused $2.6 million (2005 USD) in damage across the state.