Hurricane Cindy (2005)

Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale

On June 24 a vigorous tropical wave moved off the African coast and quickly west across the Atlantic without developing. The wave gradually became more organized as it crossed the Caribbean and late on July 3 it strengthened into Tropical Depression Three about 80 miles (130 km) east of Chetumal, Mexico.[1] The models initially had difficulty predicting the track of the depression and the forecasts from the National Hurricane Center reflected this, indicating that the depression would move towards Texas.[2] The depression developed quickly before making landfall on Yucatán Peninsula early on July 4 with 35 mph (55 km/h) winds and began to lose its circulation overland.[1] A new center of circulation began forming later on July 4, over the Gulf of Mexico, to the north of the original center. This reformation caused a significant alteration in the forecast models, which now indicated a landfall in Louisiana.[3] The depression moved northwards into the Gulf of Mexico and became a tropical storm early on July 5, assigned the name Cindy.

Weakened shear allowed Cindy to strengthen further as it approached Louisiana and the storm was a minimal hurricane with 75 mph (120 km/h) winds when it made landfall near Grand Isle late on July 5.[1] Initially it was stated that Cindy did not reach hurricane strength, but post-season reanalysis confirmed the upgrade to Category 1 status.[1][4] Cindy weakened back into a tropical storm as it crossed over extreme southeastern Louisiana and Breton Sound before making a second landfall near Waveland, Mississippi with 50 mph (85 km/h) winds on July 6. Cindy moved to the northeast over Mississippi and Alabama, weakening to a tropical depression that day. The depression became extratropical over the Carolinas on July 7 and moved to the northeast dissipating in the Gulf of St Lawrence on July 12.[1]

Hurricane Cindy making landfall over Louisiana on July 6

Upon being declared a tropical depression, meteorologists in Mexico began advising residents about the possibility of heavy rainfall across the Yucatán Peninsula.[5]

The National Hurricane Center issued a Tropical Storm Warning from Morgan City, Louisiana to Destin, Florida,[6] and both tourists and residents evacuated the Louisiana and Florida coasts.[7] Workers were evacuated from six oil rigs in the storm's path,[8] and 23 coastal refineries stopped unloading oil as Cindy's approach made such activities dangerous.[9] Numerous flights in and out of New Orleans were cancelled and Amtrak suspended passenger rail service until after the storm passed. Recreational vehicles were told to leave Grand Isle in case a full-scale evacuation was needed. In Mississippi, jail inmates filled sandbags which would be distributed to flood prone areas throughout the state.[8]

Collapsed building at the Atlanta Motor Speedway as a result of a tornado spawned by Cindy.

Three deaths were attributed to Cindy, none of them near the storm's landfall. One person was killed in Georgia,[1] and two in Maryland from a car crash.[10] Approximately 300,000 homes and businesses in southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast lost electrical power and a storm surge of 4–6 feet (1.2-1.8 m) affected the same area, causing some beach erosion near Grand Isle, Louisiana. Hurricane Cindy's total damage was estimated to be US$320 million.[1]

In New Orleans, Louisiana, wind gusts reached 70 mph (110 km/h), many trees were damaged or uprooted[7] and scattered street flooding was reported. As thousands lost electrical power, the city experienced its worst blackout since Hurricane Betsy 40 years earlier. Although still listed as a "Tropical Storm" by the weather service at the time, many laypeople in New Orleans were under the impression that Cindy was a hurricane, and referred to it as "Hurricane Cindy" before it was officially upgraded.[11][12] Many people in the New Orleans metropolitan area expected minimal effects from the storm, but were cleaning up debris and were without power for days after Cindy's passage.[13][14] In Louisiana, 260,000 residences were left without power.[15]

Even though it had weakened to a depression when it moved inland, Cindy's effects were still significant across the final portion of its track. The day after its landfall in southeastern Louisiana, Tropical Depression Cindy reached central Alabama. There its rainbands produced heavy rainfall and eight tornadoes.[16] Damage was mostly limited to trees and powerlines, but an F1 tornado in Macon county injured one man, destroyed an auto-repair shop, and damaged several nearby cars.[17] About 35,000 residences in Alabama and 7,000 in both Florida and Mississippi were left without power following the storm.[15]

In Georgia, some parts of Atlanta Motor Speedway and Tara Field airport in Hampton, Georgia suffered US$40 million damage from an F2 tornado spawned by the storm.[18] An F1 tornado in Fayette county damaged three homes and caused an estimated US$3 million of damage.[19] Four other tornadoes were confirmed across the state, although none of them caused significant damage.[20] Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta recorded over 5 inches (130 mm) of rain on July 6, its sixth-highest one-day rainfall since records began in 1878;[21] most of the rain fell during just two hours (8–10 p.m. EDT). This is more rain than the area normally gets in all of July.[22]

Cindy's remnant low moving across western and northern North Carolina combined with a frontal boundary to produce several supercell thunderstorms. These supercells spawned a number of tornadoes in western North Carolina, at the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, but their effects were minimal.[23] Continuing north, Cindy brought over 5 in (125 mm) of rain to areas as distant as Salisbury, Maryland.[24] In addition, Cindy's remnants produce moderate rainfall in Upstate New York causing light damage due to flooding and gusty winds, which downed some trees.[25]

• List of Florida hurricanes (2000–present)
• List of North Carolina hurricanes (2000–present)
• List of Category 1 Atlantic hurricanes
• Tropical Storm Arlene (2005) – Affected similar areas earlier in the year.
• Hurricane Barry (2019)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hurricane Cindy (2005).

• The NHC's Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Cindy.
• The NHC's archive on Hurricane Cindy.
• The HPC's archive on Hurricane Cindy.
• USA Today: Tropical Storm Cindy floods streets along Gulf Coast
• Photos of Cindy on al.com
• Times-Picayune article the following day via ohsep.louisiana.gov
• NASA article on Cindy's rainfall