Bloomberg:
Hurricane Dennis strengthened to a so- called Category 4 storm as it neared the southeastern U.S. coast and may gain speed before it makes landfall later today, the National Hurricane Center said.
Dennis, which had weakened to a Category 2 storm after striking Cuba on July 8, is regaining strength in the Gulf about 210 miles (336 kilometers) south of Panama City, Florida, and about 290 miles southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, as of 1 a.m. Miami time, the hurricane center said in statement on its Web site. The storm is moving northwest at 14 mph (22.4 kph) and likely will hit the Gulf Coast between Mississippi and the Florida panhandle this afternoon, forecasters said.
The hurricane was today upgraded to a Category 4 on the five- tier Saffir-Simpson scale after wind gusts intensified to 135 mph, the hurricane center said. Category 4 storms have winds of 131 to 155 mph. They can flood flat terrain as far as 6 miles inland, cause major erosion of beaches, destroy mobile homes and force the evacuation of single-story homes within 2 miles of the shoreline.
Reuters spreekt zelfs van een ‘monster hurricane’.
Zie de website van National Hurricane Center voor meer informatie en actuele waarschuwingen. Op de website StormChaser vind je foto’s en video’s van de naderende orkaan. En actueel nieuws vind je natuurlijk op Google News.
