High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Effects of Hurricane Dennis in Mississippi were mostly minor and included one indirect death. On June 29, 2005, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa. Gradually, the system organized on July 2 and formed a broad low pressure area. The system continued to develop, and became a tropical depression on July 4. Tracking westward, it became a tropical storm on July 5 and a hurricane on July 7. Dennis rapidly intensified to attain Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale before making landfall on Cuba. The hurricane weakened to Category 1 status before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico and intensifying to Category 4 strength. Dennis made landfall on the Florida Panhandle on July 10 as a Category 3 hurricane, then tracked over southeast Alabama and entered Mississippi as a tropical depression.