Ida reaches hurricane strength; possible Gulf Coast threat next week

Ida became a hurricane this morning before making landfall in east-central Nicaragua. The late-season storm, with winds near 75 mph, had already uprooted trees, knocked down power lines and forced the evacuation of 300 people on Corn Island after forming Wednesday in the southwestern Caribbean. According to the 9 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Ida was located about 75 miles north of Bluefields, Nicaragua. The storm was moving toward the northwest near 6 mph, and a turn to the north-northwest is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the north late Friday or Friday night. On this forecast track, the center of Ida will move across eastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras during the next couple of days. Perhaps more troublesome, however, are forecast models that indicate Ida could threaten the northern Gulf of Mexico. The NHC’s five-day forecast has Ida as a tropical storm moving slightly west of north in the southern Gulf of Mexico—west of Key West, Fla., and south of Pensacola, Fla.—at 7 a.m. Tuesday. “Louisiana is no stranger to hurricanes, but we haven’t seen a storm this late in the season in a very long time,” says Robyn Cadwallader, response director for the Louisiana Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. For the National Hurricane Center’s Web site, click here.