A weakening Tropical Storm Ida lashed the US Gulf Coast with drenching rain and high surf on Tuesday as it moved ashore after shutting down almost 30 percent of Gulf of Mexico energy production. Ida, once a Category 2 hurricane, made its first US landfall at around 6:40 am EST (1140 GMT) on Dauphin island, the barrier island off Mobile, Alabama, packing maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 kilometers per hour).
The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving inland over Mobile Bay. After landfall, the storm was forecast to weaken further as it turned east over northern Florida. With Ida weakening, most offshore oil rigs in the Gulf will not see any damage, said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist at private forecaster Planalytics Inc. Rouiller said that by Tuesday there would be normal operations across the production region.
Oil prices eased to $79 a barrel after Ida was downgraded from a Category 2 hurricane. The Coast Guard closed the Port of Mobile, halting traffic on Mobile Bay, and authorities closed schools and government offices in coastal counties in Alabama and Florida, telling residents of flood-prone areas and mobile homes to evacuate. The storm dumped heavy rainfall onshore and a tropical storm warning was in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana, eastward to Aucilla River, Florida. The region was being pounded by rain and there were reports of flooded streets.
ENERGY PRODUCTION: Ida, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm earlier on Monday, posed the first real storm threat of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season to Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production, and forced some companies to shut down offshore platforms and evacuate personnel. The US Minerals Management Service said Ida had shut down 29.6 percent of Gulf oil production and 27.5 percent of gas output.
Louisiana's WWL-TV reported that a 70-year-old man was missing after a wave flipped over his boat when he had tried to help two other stranded boaters on the Mississippi River on Monday. A US Coast Guard helicopter on Monday plucked two workers from a storm-damaged oil rig south of New Orleans. Ida also is blamed for 124 flood and mudslide deaths in El Salvador.