Ida weakens to a tropical depression, heads east

In this satellite image handout from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the storm Ida is seen, now downgraded to a tropical storm after moving through an area of cooler sea surface temperatures and increasing shear November 9, 2009 off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. According to NOAA, strong winds are covering a large area of the Gulf of Mexico and the associated rains are moving well ahead of the center of the storm. Authorities say Ida could make landfall as early as Tuesday morning. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as a precaution, and the National Guard was on high alert if assistance was needed. (NOAA, Getty Images)

MIAMI (AP) — Forecasters say Ida has weakened to a tropical depression and is heading east toward the Florida Panhandle with winds near 35 mph.

Ida was a tropical storm with winds near 45 mph when it came ashore near Mobile Bay in southern Alabama on Tuesday morning.

The tropical depression is moving northeast about 9 mph and is expected to continue in that direction until being absorbed by a front on Wednesday.

Forecasters say most of the heavy rain is over and tropical storm warnings have been discontinued.

The storm had shut down nearly a third of oil and natural gas production in Gulf as oil companies evacuated workers ahead of Ida. But demand for energy is so low due to the economic downturn, energy prices have barely budged.

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