Forecasters raise Cindy to status of hurricane

Published 9:00 pm Friday, January 27, 2006

MIAMI – Tropical Storm Cindy, the third named storm of last year’s record hurricane season, has been upgraded, putting the 2005 record-breaking Atlantic hurricane count at 15.

Forecasters re-examining radar data from Slidell, La., found that a small area of sustained winds had reached 75 mph – just above the 74 mph-threshold for a hurricane, National Hurricane Center forecasters said Thursday.

Cindy made landfall July 5, causing an estimated $160 million in insured damage along the Gulf Coast.