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Ida lashing the Gulf Coast; no change in strength

Tropical Storm Ida is pounding the coasts of southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle with high winds, huge waves, and heavy rain.

At 6 pm EST, the Mobile, AL NWS office reported that coastal flooding had begun on Dauphin Island and at Fort Pickens in the Florida Panhandle. Surf heights of 5 - 8′ are expected tonight on Dauphin Island as Ida storms ashore, and heights of 10 - 15′ are possible from Fort Morgan, Alabama to Destin, Florida. Sustained winds of 40 mph were reported at buoy 42007 22 nm miles south of Biloxi, MS at 4:50 pm EST, and winds of 40 mph, gusting to 51 mph, were recorded at Dauphin Island, AL, at 7:06 pm EST.

Hurricane Ida moves into U.S. Gulf Coast

Hurricane Ida moved into the southern Gulf of Mexico Sunday, prompting a declaration of emergency in Louisiana and concern along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The storm regained hurricane intensity overnight Saturday, becoming a Category 2 hurricane, but forecasters said it is expected to weaken as it moves north. Ida drenched Nicaragua after making landfall last week as a Category 1 hurricane, then weakened to a tropical storm before resuming strength.

In El Salvador, at least 91 people died in flooding and mudslides, according to the government, but a low-pressure system out of the Pacific — not Hurricane Ida — triggered the disaster, forecaster Robby Berg of the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.

A hurricane warning, meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 24 hours, extends from Pascagoula, Mississippi to Indian Pass, Florida, forecasters said.