Tropical Storm Ida tiptoes through Crestview

Tropical Storm Ida’s pre-dawn march up Mobile Bay Tuesday morning pushed splinter bands eastward into north Okaloosa County where the storm amounted to little more than a rain event.

“We got lucky,” Okaloosa County spokesperson Kathy Newby said. “Everything looks good. We had no serious flooding issues.”

Although officials plan to monitor Blackwater and Shoal rivers for flooding over the next two days, the anticipation over the third hurricane of this year’s quiet Atlantic tropical season was greater than the storm’s punch.

The National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala., reported Ida’s landfall at 5:40 a.m. on Dauphin Island, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

The storm turned east, north of the Florida Panhandle, dumping between two and three inches of rain on the area.

There were reports of minor beach erosion in the south end of the county, where minor flooding occurred on a couple of roads.

Roads were clear in Crestview Tuesday, where traffic was lighter than normal for early-morning commuters. County offices and schools closed in advance of the storm that fizzled from a category 2 hurricane, to a tropical storm before making landfall.

 “It’s a good thing it didn’t turn out to be anything,” said Larry Haile, general manager for Sodexo, which handles food services for Okaloosa County schools.

Haile spent Monday night at Davidson Middle School in Crestview, the location of the only storm shelter activated in the county. Eight people spent the night on cots at the shelter, which was manned by volunteers.

By 8 a.m., everyone had left but Sodexo employees, who had cooked dinner Monday night for the shelter occupants. Tuesday morning, they were served breakfast.

Newby called the storm “good practice.”

Haile gave the county high marks for preparedness at the shelter, which was manned by volunteers trained to meet special medical needs.

“They were fully staffed for any emergency that may happen,” Haile said.

City crews spent Monday night monitoring city streets for flooding but there was none to report, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.