Ida headed for overnight landfall

 

MIAMI, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Ida was closing in on the U.S. Gulf Coast Monday night and forecasters said the storm would probably make landfall during the night.

Hurricane warnings and watches along the coast were canceled Monday as Ida was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Grand Isle, La., to the Aucilla River in Florida, including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

At 10 p.m. EST Monday, Ida's center was about 100 miles south-southwest of Mobile, Ala. Top sustained winds were 65 mph with higher gusts and the storm was likely to weaken Monday night.

Ida was on a northerly track, moving at about 13 mph and was expected to lose forward speed overnight. On its forecast track, the storm should reach the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday morning and then turn eastward, forecasters said.

Ida-generated rains could dump up 3-6 inches of precipitation through Wednesday from the central and eastern Gulf Coast into the eastern portions of the Tennessee Valley, southern Appalachians and other points in the southeastern United States, the hurricane center said.

The center also warned that a storm tide could raise water 3 to 5 feet above ground level near and to the east of where Ida's center will make landfall.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Sunday, saying Ida "threatens the safety and security of those citizens" along the state's southeastern coastline, CNN reported. Residents in Florida were asked to have disaster plans in place by Florida's Division of Emergency Management.

The U.S. Census Bureau said Monday 2.8 million people might feel the storm's effects. In a statement, the bureau noted 16 counties in four states were under a tropical storm warning posted by the National Hurricane Center.

The statement said the largest population centers likely to feel the effects of the storm are Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans; and Pensacola, Fla.