Weakened Ida Makes Landfall; Minimal Damage Reported - 11-10-2009

At 10:00 a.m., top sustained winds dropped to near 35 mph and it became a tropical depression. Ida was moving northeast about 9 mph and expected to turn eastward to follow the Florida Panhandle.

Officials in Baldwin County, which includes the beach community of Gulf Shores, said there were no early reports of injuries or property damage.

"Our crews are out on the ground doing assessments now," said Paula Tillman, a spokeswoman for the Baldwin County emergency management agency. "We have a few roads that have some flooding, but the water's going back down pretty quickly. Our road crews pushed some sand off some roads. Other than that, so far so good."

Most of Ida's heaviest rain fell north of the storm's center, which was over Mobile Bay at 8:30 a.m. ET. That was causing officials here to worry about flooding in the days ahead.

"We may see our rivers come back up," Tillman said. "We're asking everybody to be vigilant and watch out."

In Mobile, many residents were going about their business as usual. "No worse than a bad thunderstorm," said Earl Haynes, 34, pumping gas at a station near Interstate 65.

Schools were closed in Mobile, Baldwin and Washington counties, and in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in the Florida Panhandle.

Ida's damage in Mississippi also appeared to be minimal. "Really, it looks like the storm has passed our Gulf Coast, and we've only seen reports of very minor damage and some flooding," said Jeff Rent, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

About 500 residents of Jackson County near the Alabama border lost power, but that had been restored by 9:30 a.m. ET. Seven people in Jackson County stayed overnight in a shelter because of flooding, he said.

"No main roads were shut down," Rent said. "It looks like damage was very minimal."