Hurricane Cindy (2005)

After crossing the Yucatan Peninsula, Cindy made its first US landfall just southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana, at 0300 UTC on July 6, 2005 (10 p.m. CDT on July 5), as a Category 1 hurricane with 65-knot (75 mph) winds and a 991 mb central pressure.¹ It weakened to a tropical storm before a second landfall southwest of Waveland, Mississippi, near Ansley, at 0900 UTC (4 a.m. CDT) on July 6, with 45-knot (52 mph) winds.¹

Cindy pushed a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet onto the coasts of southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi, including Lake Borgne and the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and 3 to 4 feet onto the Alabama coast.¹ Rain of 4 to 6 inches fell across southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and southern Alabama, with 7 to 9 inches in a few spots, and flooding followed in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.¹ NHC calls wind damage in the New Orleans area minor, with considerable damage to trees and power lines.¹

Cindy and its remnants spawned 33 tornadoes in eight states from July 5 to 7, mostly small F0 and F1 tornadoes, which still damaged roofs, mobile homes and well-built commercial and industrial buildings.¹ The strongest was an F2 tornado with winds near 120 mph that struck the Hampton area of Henry County, Georgia, on July 6, with a damage path 9 miles long and up to half a mile wide.² NWS Peachtree City says that tornado did more than $40 million in damage, and a tornado in Fayette County did about $3 million.² NHC counts one direct death, a drowning in a flooded ditch in Peachtree City, Georgia, and estimates US damage at $320 million.¹