Aug. 26 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Ida formed Thursday afternoon just west of Jamaica, bringing heavy rains and storm surges to the Caribbean before heading into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthening, forecasters said.
In its 8 p.m. EDT update, the National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm was located 120 miles west of Negril, Jamaica, and 115 miles southeast of Grand Cayman. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving northwest at 13 mph.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the Cayman Islands, and the Cuban provinces of Matanzas, Mayabeque, Havana, Artemisa, Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth.
Ida was expected to strengthen as it heads northwesterly into the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a hurricane by Saturday afternoon. It’s forecast to make landfall along the Louisiana or Mississippi coasts a day later before turning toward the northeast.
“The system is forecast to approach the northern Gulf Coast at or near major hurricane intensity on Sunday, where there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall Sunday and Monday, especially along the coast of Louisiana,” the NHC said.
Ida is the ninth named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season following Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Elsa, Fred, Grace and Henri.