Dennis: Could've Been Worse

With a sigh of relief, Gulf Coast residents began hurricane cleanup again as

Floodwater inundated a fishing village and miles of a Panhandle coastal highway. More than 550,000 customers in four states were left without power, and some could be out for three weeks or more, officials said. But hours after landfall, officials reported little major structural damage.

As CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta reports, after bracing themselves for devastation, many across the Florida panhandle found deliverance after homeowners saw their worries and not their houses blown away.

Washed out by Hurricane Ivan ten months ago, the Lillo's were overjoyed to see their home as they left it.

"Hallelujah, I still have my house," said Lisa Lillo. "Oh thank the Lord our prayers were answered."

But, as Acosta reports, Sam Johnson wasn't so lucky.

He was living out of a FEMA-provided trailer while making repairs on his Ivan-damaged home.

Now, he's homeless again.

"I can't live in the house, can't live in the trailer," Johnson said.

He said he plans to live in his van until I can get it set up for my family to come back.

By 5 a.m., Dennis had weakened to a tropical depression over northeast Mississippi with 35 mph winds and forecasters warned it could dump up to 15 centimeters of rain and result in some tornadoes as it moved north.

Dennis caused an estimated $1 billion to $2.5 billion in insured damage in the United States, according to AIR Worldwide Corp. of Boston, an insurance risk modeling company.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Monday that while damage wasn't as widespread as expected, the storm was still devastating to those whose homes were damaged.

Brown said

"We want to make certain that those who perhaps didn't evacuate, that are still in damaged neighborhoods, that they have the things they need to survive, that they have meals ready to eat, that they have water, that they have a place to sleep," Brown said Monday on CBS News' The Early Show.

"Our objective is to make certain we save people's lives, let them sustain their life, let them get their feet back on the ground, so they can start rebuilding their lives," Brown said.

Beverly Hayes, who runs the Econo-Flash truck stop in Lithia Springs, Ga., says the FEMA inspectors ought to take a look at her block.

"The street right in front of us is flooded, and it's just disrupted business a lot," Hayes told CBS Radio News.

In Fort Lauderdale, a man was electrocuted when he stepped on a power line brought down by strong winds. He had been heading toward a house for shelter and apparently didn't see the streetlight cable on the ground, police spokesman Bill Schultz said. His body was found early Sunday.

A fast-moving Category 3 hurricane when it came ashore with 120 mph winds, Dennis was smaller than Ivan and weaker than when it churned through the Gulf of Mexico as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm. In the Caribbean, it claimed at least 20 lives.

Striking less than 50 miles east of where Ivan came ashore, Dennis generated white-capped waves spewing four-story geysers over sea walls. Boats broke loose and bobbed like toys in the roiling ocean. Roofs went flying, power lines fell and rain blew sideways in sheets.

Still, officials and residents had feared worse from Dennis. Hurricane-force winds stretched only 40 miles from the center, compared with 105 miles for Ivan, and the eye of Dennis tore through at nearly 20 mph, compared to Ivan's 13 mph. Dennis was responsible for at least 20 deaths in the Caribbean.

Everyone in the Navarre, Fla., area is grateful it wasn't worse than it was, reports CBS News Correspondent Drew Levinson.

"We are miles ahead of where we were last time," said Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby.

"A lot of people like me included just finished getting their houses back together again and, jeez, we get hit with another hurricane," said Ceil Holley, who is grateful "the hurricane went through so quickly it didn't have time to destroy a lot of the stuff that Ivan had to destroy."

Rainfall was measured at 8 inches, rather than the expected foot. "We were spared the wrath of an Ivan," Escambia County Emergency Management Chief Matt Lopez said.

Dennis became the fifth hurricane to strike Florida in less than 11 months. President George W. Bush issued a major disaster declaration for the state. He also declared 38 counties in Mississippi and 45 counties in Alabama federal disaster areas, making them eligible for assistance from FEMA.

Meanwhile, a fifth tropical depression gained strength early Monday far out in the Atlantic, with top sustained winds of 35 mph. Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm over the next day. The next tropical storm will be named Emily.

At 5 a.m., the depression was 1,185 miles east of the Windward Islands, and heading in the general direction of the Caribbean islands and Florida.