Man walks along beach as wind from Tropical Storm Ida blows on coast near Gulf Shores, Alabama, 10 Nov 2009 Tropical Storm Ida has made landfall on the southern coast of the United States. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm came ashore early Tuesday at Dauphin in Island, in the southern U.S. state of Alabama.
The forecasters say Ida's maximum sustained winds have diminished to 75 kilometers an hour and the storm is expected to continue weakening as it moves inland.
But the storm is still producing heavy rains, with forecasters predicting it could drop as much as 20 centimeters of rain in some areas.
The governors of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have declared states of emergency, and several offshore oil wells shut down production in advance of the storm. Two oil workers were plucked from a rig nearly 130 kilometers south of New Orleans Monday.
At its earlier hurricane strength, Ida triggered floods and mudslides that killed at least 130 people in El Salvador and forced thousands from their homes.
Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes has declared a national emergency. The town of Verapaz was one of the hardest hit areas, where streets were covered in mud.
Ida hit Nicaragua's Caribbean coast Thursday as a low-level hurricane, destroying homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.
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