Weakening Ida drenches Gulf Coast

updated 5:09 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2009

GULF SHORES, Ala. - Tropical Storm Ida sloshed ashore with rain and gusty winds Tuesday before weakening to a depression, causing little damage along the Gulf Coast but bringing more rain to the already-soaked Southeast.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ida's center first touched land on Dauphin Island, Ala., before heading across Mobile Bay toward the Alabama mainland and on to Florida.

Top winds dropped to near 35 mph as Ida weakened. Forecasters said it would likely be absorbed by a front Wednesday.

Tropical storm warnings were discontinued across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Forecasters said the storm had already spread most of its heavy rain onshore along the Gulf Coast ahead of Ida's center.

The storm had shut down nearly a third of oil and natural gas production in Gulf as oil companies evacuated workers ahead of Ida. Still, demand for energy is so low due to the economic downturn, energy prices barely budged on Tuesday. Oil companies are expected to fly workers back out to platforms relatively quickly to restart operations.

The storm left some debris and standing water in the streets on Dauphin Island, but many residents said they were unscathed aside from power outages.

"The only thing it did to us is knock out the power. Our houses and people are fine. I'm fine," resident Jimmy Wentworth said as he sipped coffee outside the Ship&Shore convenience store.

On the lower lying west end of the island, where many residents had evacuated, there was ankle deep water on parts of the road. A police officer standing guard in front of a stretch of the road said the extent of damage was uncertain.

'A lot better than it could have been'
Patricia Pitt's yard on the west end was strewn with minor debris, but otherwise her property was fine.

"It's a lot better than it could have been. I mean who would think I would be out here walking around after a storm like that."

Atlanta resident Mike White drove down Monday to see the storm and was watching breakers crash at Gulf Shores early Tuesday. The sky was clear overhead but there were clouds all around.

"This is spectacular. It's almost like we are in the eyewall," White said.

In Orange Beach, east of Mobile Bay near the Florida state line, hotel desk clerk Frank Worley said Ida was more like a thunderstorm than a hurricane as it slopped ashore overnight.

"It was a lot of waves and wind, but it wasn't very harsh," he said. "There's a few people driving up and down the roads, but no one on the beach."

Blowing sand
There were reports of scattered power outages, but water that filled parking lots and roadsides late Monday was gone by daybreak Tuesday. The rain had stopped, but the winds are still brisk, whipping palm fronds and whistling through doors. On the beach, dry sand blew like snow in the glow of lights.

Video   All clear in Pensacola The Weather Channel's Stephanie Abrams reports from Pensacola that the beach area fared well. Weather.com

The storm surge wasn't enough to breach sand berms along the Alabama coast guarding beachfront hotels and condominium buildings.

Paula Tillman, a spokeswoman for the emergency operations agency in Baldwin County on the east side of Mobile Bay, said there were no reports of damage on the Alabama coast.

"So far, so good," she said.

The sun was out in Mississippi's easternmost coastal county, where authorities said the storm was pretty much over and water was already receding from about two dozen local roads that had flooded. "We fared well," said Jackson County Emergency Operations Director Donald Langham, who added there were no reports of homes damaged.

Patrick Keene, 71, and his wife, Kathie, live in a doublewide trailer in the shadow the beachfront home in Pascagoula, Miss., that they are rebuilding four years after Hurricane Katrina.

While his wife retreated to their son's home across the state Monday night, Keene and his dog rode out the storm in the trailer.

"It's been worse. We get summer squalls frequently that are as bad as this one," Keene said Tuesday.

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