Hurricane slams ashore

last updated 8 January 2015

Santa Rosa Island, Fla.

Floridians still rattled by last year’s brutal hurricane season were battered this week by a rare early-summer storm. Hurricane Dennis churned in from the Gulf of Mexico with 120 mph winds. Its center struck Santa Rosa Island, just miles from where Hurricane Ivan, which killed 57 people, hit last year. Dennis sped inland quickly after flooding streets, leaving four dead and 500,000 homes without electricity. With nearly five months of hurricane season to go, the storm had many Floridians feeling dazed. “We’re still tired from last year,” one Okaloosa County official said.