# 3972
UPDATED 1:30 EDT Sun Nov 8th – Ida Now CAT 2. Hurricane Watch Extended Eastward to Mexico Beach, Fl
While there is a pretty good chance that Hurricane Ida will lose some of it’s punch as it moves further north into the Gulf, the storm has already exceeded expectations and may reach CAT 2 strength later today or tomorrow.
Now is the time for all residents along the Gulf coast to check their hurricane supplies, and for those living in the potential landfall zone (which runs from south of New Orleans almost to Tampa) to review their emergency plans.
Ida may well become an extra-tropical system before landfall, but it could still pack a wallop.
000
WTNT31 KNHC 081447
TCPAT1
BULLETIN
HURRICANE IDA ADVISORY NUMBER 18
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112009
900 AM CST SUN NOV 08 2009...CENTER OF IDA MOVING INTO THE YUCATAN CHANNEL...HURRICANE WATCH ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN GULF COAST...
AT 900 AM CST...1500 UTC...A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FROM GRAND ISLE LOUISIANA TO THE MISSISSIPPI/ALABAMA BORDER. THIS WATCH DOES NOT INCLUDE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.
A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE YUCATAN PENINSULA OF MEXICO FROM PLAYA DEL CARMEN TO CABO CATOCHE. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION IN THE WARNING AREA.
While it is too soon to know how much of a threat Ida will pose to the US coastlines, it isn’t too soon to begin to prepare for her arrival.
To that end, today would be a good day to visit FEMA’s Hurricane information page.
Ida has already claimed dozens of lives in the past 3 days as it’s rain bands moved across portions of central America.
Government: 40 dead in El Salvador flooding
(AP) – 41 minutes ago
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador's interior minister says that 40 people have died throughout the country following three days of heavy rains.
Minister Humberto Centeno says the deaths happened in at least five of the 14 provinces of the mountainous Central American country.
It has been raining in El Salvador since Thursday, the day Hurricane Ida passed through Nicaragua.
