Tropical Storm — Harrison, Mississippi

2005-07-05 to 2005-07-06 · Harrison, Mississippi

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Cindy developed from a tropical depression that formed over the extreme western Caribbean Sea on July 3. This depression moved northwest over the Yucatan Peninsula and emerged over the south central Gulf of Mexico on July 4. On July 5th the depression strengthened into a tropical storm and moved north toward the southeast Louisiana coast and reached hurricane strength for a short period of time. Cindy made landfall in southeast Louisiana as a minimal hurricane early on July 6th just to the west of Grand Isle. Cindy then turned toward the northeast and weakened to a tropical storm as it moved onto the Mississippi coast before dissipating inland over central Alabama later that day. The long duration of tropical storm force winds and high gusts resulted in considerable wind damage to trees and foliage as well as widespread power outages due to downed electrical lines. The highest maximum sustained wind at a land station was 49 mph, or 43 knots, at the Pascagoula Airport. The highest wind gust measured in coastal Mississippi was 55 mph, or 48 knots, at the Pascagoula Airport, and 60 mph, or 52 knots, at the NOAA buoy 42007 located 22 miles south southeast of Biloxi. Heavy rainfall resulted in extensive street flooding with rainfall generally amounts ranging from 3 inches to a little over 6 inches across much of coastal Mississippi. The lowest pressures measured were 996.2 mb at NOAA buoy 42007 located 22 miles south southeast of Biloxi and 995.0 mb at Kessler Airforce Base in Biloxi. High tides caused minor storm surge flooding along the Mississippi coast especially in Hancock County. The highest storm surge recorded was 6.2 feet NGVD at Ocean Springs.Overall the tropical storm caused approximately $10 million in damage, with 1 million attributed to storm surge and the remainder wind damage.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5463314. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.