Sunday November 8, 2009

Hurricane Ida strengthens, heads to Gulf of Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Ida strengthened off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as it makes its way to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.

Ida, which reached hurricane status again late on Saturday, had top sustained winds of 90 mph (145 kph), the hurricane center said in its 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT) advisory.

Destroyed houses are seen in Sandy Bay, Nicaragua November 7, 2009. Hurricane Ida strengthened off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as it makes its way to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Tropical storm force winds could reach parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast in a couple of days, the Miami-based center said.

Ida was a Category 1 storm, the lowest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, and forecasters said it could strengthen to Category 2 later on Sunday. Gradual weakening was expected to begin by late on Monday.

Ida was forecast to move through the Yucatan Channel and into the Gulf of Mexico later on Sunday, passing close to the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

Ida first became a hurricane on Thursday off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua before weakening over that country. It revived on Saturday.

The center of Ida was 85 miles (137 km) east of the resort island of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 95 miles (153 km) south-southwest of the western tip of Cuba.

It was moving north-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph) with a turn to the north-northwest and then north expected over the next two days.

There was a hurricane warning for the Yucatan Peninsula from Playa del Carmen to Cabo Catoche, north of Cancun.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Grand Cayman Island and for the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, the hurricane center said.

The Mexican government urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the Yucatan Peninsula and imposed restrictions on coastal shipping.

Mexico's state oil monopoly, Pemex, which has extensive operations in the Gulf of Mexico, activated its hurricane contingency program but oil and gas production was unaffected, a company spokesman said.

U.S. energy companies said on Friday they were monitoring the storm's progress but had not yet begun evacuating any production platforms.

The Gulf of Mexico accounts for a quarter of U.S. domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output. The Gulf Coast is also home to 40 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

Ida dumped heavy rain along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast last week, but there were no reports of fatalities. The country's coffee crop was not directly affected by the storm, according to the local coffee council.

(Reporting by Robert Campbell; Additional reporting by Jose Cortazar in Cancun; Writing by Peter Cooney; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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