Weakened Ida wobbles toward Gulf Coast

Some Gulf Coast residents hunkered down at home and in shelters Monday while others ventured outside to watch the approach of a rare late-season tropical storm that brought the potential for high winds, flooding and up to 8 inches of rain in some places.

After a quiet Atlantic storm season, many took the year's first threat in stride.

"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.

Hurricane Ida had been the third hurricane of this year's Atlantic season, which ends Nov. 30, but weakened with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was expected to weaken further before making landfall along the Gulf Coast.

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

"They said the waves were going to be pretty high," she said. "The last time there was a storm, they came over the berm, and I don't swim."

Forecasters predicted Ida's storm surge could raise water levels 3 to 5 feet above normal.

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

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist warned that tropical storms can still be deadly. He pointed to Fay, which was blamed for more than a dozen deaths in Florida, Haiti and the Dominican Republic last year.

"That thing was a tropical storm and we lost a lot of our fellow Floridians, so it's important to stay vigilant," Crist said outside the state emergency operations center. "We need to be careful."

For the Tampa Bay area, most of Ida's effects will stay offshore.

Ida already has kicked up high seas in the Gulf and prompted a small craft advisory for waters around Tampa Bay. The rough seas will last through today.