By Staff
Hurricane Dennis, which once looked to be a Category 4 storm headed for the Gulf Coast had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane by Saturday afternoon.
At noon yesterday, weather forecasters said the storm still had the potential to intensify and Dennis was expected to make landfall by tonight.
Escambia County EMA director David Jennings held a meeting Friday afternoon to detail logistics in preparation for Hurricane Dennis's expected landfall this weekend.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, Escambia County (Ala.) officials were waiting for the storm to pass over Cuba before deciding if evacuation should be mandatory here.
Local EMA officials hoped that unseasonably cool waters in the Gulf of Mexico would reduce Dennis's potential impact.
Mary-Allison Lancaster and Michele Gerlach contributed to this report