Heavy rains, winds blow into US Gulf Coast communities as residents brace for tropical storm

Rains hitting Gulf Coast ahead of tropical storm

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Squalls ahead of a rare late-season tropical storm that was crawling toward the Gulf Coast blew in heavy rain Monday as residents hunkered down mostly at home to ride out high winds and anticipated flooding.

Ida had slowed and weakened even more as it approached the coast. Winds were about 60 mph (95 kph) and the storm was about 95 miles (150 km) south-southwest of Mobile, moving only about five miles north in three hours. It was expected to make land early Tuesday before turning east.

Tropical storm warnings were out across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, where governors declared states of emergency.

In Gulf Shores along the coast, some streets were flooded and the city was under a 10 p.m. curfew. Allen Hastings, general manager of The Original Oyster House, was closing even earlier. During Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the restaurant flooded despite being elevated about 6 feet.

But Hastings, like many along the Gulf Coast, didn’t anticipate Ida to be as bad, and said it had been a quiet Atlantic tropical season until now.

“We’re not complaining,” he said as the restaurant’s awnings whipped in the wind. “I don’t think it’s going to be bad, but we just have to see what tomorrow brings.”

A low-pressure system that Hurricane Ida may have played a role in attracting had earlier triggered flooding and landslides in El Salvador that killed at least 130 people. Near New Orleans, a 70-year-old man was feared drowned when trying to help two fishermen whose boat had broken down in the Mississippi River, said Maj. John Marie, a Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s spokesman. A wave knocked him into the water.

Ida had been the third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season, which ends Dec. 1, but was the only one to threaten the U.S.

Rain will move well inland before the further-weakened storm comes ashore, said U.S. National Hurricane Center hurricane specialist Robbie Berg. Rainfall could be up to 8 inches in some areas, with most of the coast getting between 3 and 6 inches.

Still, few people evacuated or sought refuge along Alabama’s coast. Officials said fewer than 70 people were in shelters that opened in Mobile and Baldwin counties, with a total population of 565,000.

The streets were quiet late Monday in downtown Mobile, about 40 miles northwest of Gulf Shores, with many stores and restaurants closing early. Stiff winds with gusts up to 50 mph and sheets of rain made driving hazardous, and many residents opted to stay off the roads, although few said they were leaving town.

Doris Moorman, who was managing the Red Cross shelter in Pascagoula, Miss., said she staffed a similar shelter last year during Hurricane Gustav that housed more than 500 people. She said she’s concerned residents weren’t taking the threat seriously, perhaps letting their Gustav experience lull them into a false sense of security.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be fine this time,” she said.

Earlier, some residents did reflect that attitude.

“We can ride it out right here,” said T.J. Covacevich, 50, who wore a “Hurricane Hunter” T-shirt as he tied down his powerboat in a Biloxi, Miss., harbor.

Nancy Box, 68, of Gulf Shores, said she hoped the storm fizzled but did not want to chance riding it out in her elevated townhouse on the beach.

“The last time there was a storm, they came over the berm, and I don’t swim,” she said.

Forecasters predicted Ida’s storm surge could raise water levels 3 to 5 feet above normal. In Pensacola, Fla., the streets were empty as heavy rain fell. The Gulf was rough and building and winds were howling.

In north Georgia, which saw historic flooding in September, forecasters said up to 4 more inches could soak the already-saturated ground.

Two Chevron Corp. workers weren’t injured but had to be rescued from an oil rig about 80 miles south of New Orleans that was in danger of toppling as Ida churned up high seas.

There were no mandatory evacuations, but authorities in coastal areas encouraged people near the water or in mobile homes to seek shelter. Many schools closed, and several cruise ships were delayed as the U.S. Coast Guard closed Gulf Coast ports.

On Dauphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico south of Mobile, Bobbie Buerger, owner of Ship & Shore Supplies general store, said she was staying.

“I’m going to try my best to hang through it. It’s not been bad yet,” she said. “There’s been people buying candles and bread, the essentials. But there hasn’t been anybody leaving yet.”

In Louisiana and Mississippi, officials were concerned about hundreds of people still living in federally issued trailers and mobile homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Fred Everhardt, a councilman in southeast Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish, was frustrated as he counted camper-trailers he worried would get loose and clog bayous or ram into homes elevated and rebuilt after Katrina. He said he feared people were not taking the storm as seriously as they should.

But not everyone was complacent. In Navarre Beach, a few miles east of Pensacola, Roger Dick, 64, boarded up his windows and readied his generator as he and his wife prepared for their first storm as Florida residents. They moved a year ago from Ann Arbor, Mich., to a home a block from the beach.

“Any storm like this, even though we’re rookies, we know there’s cause for concern and we’ve taken precautions, obviously,” he said.

Some storm-hardened residents of Bayou La Batre, Ala., however, who had lived through Katrina rolled their eyes at the mention of the tropical storm.

Rick McClendon, owner of the Bayou Shirt Co., says he and other residents refuse to scramble.

“We’re not panicking. After you go through Katrina, it’s got to be a big storm to panic. And this isn’t,” he said.

Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson and Bill Kaczor in Pensacola, Suzette Laboy in Miami, Becky Bohrer in New Orleans, Dorie Turner in Atlanta, Jay Reeves in Robertsdale, Ala., Bob Johnson in Montgomery, Ala., Greg Bluestein in Dauphin Island, Ala., and Mike Kunzelman in Biloxi, Miss. contributed to this report.