Looks like we're gonna get it again

remnants of hurricane ivan swung back into the gulf of mexico and developed into a tropical depression, prompting tropical storm warnings wednesday in louisiana and texas.

The remnants had been kicking seas up several feet, posing a new threat to fragile barrier islands and their beaches on the louisiana coast, and forced some offshore oil and gas crews to head home.

The national weather service said the depression was likely to strengthen into a tropical storm by the time it makes landfall late in the week. Sustained winds as of wednesday evening were 35 mph.

A tropical storm warning was issued from the mouth of the mississippi river in louisiana westward to sargent, texas. Three dozen petroleum producing platforms and drilling rigs, idled since sept. 13 because of ivan, remain shut in.

Ivan and its remnants were blamed for at least 52 deaths in the united states and 70 in the caribbean. Much of the destruction was caused by flooding in the storm's wake.

After hitting florida last thursday as a hurricane, ivan weakened and broke apart as it traveled north, drenching southern and mid-atlantic states before returning to sea. A slice of the storm turned southward, however, growing slightly as it traveled over warmer waters before reaching the state's southeastern coast.

Some storm-weary floridians received a mild second slap from ivan after a portion of the storm circled back south and dropped up to five inches of rain monday.

According to the federal minerals management service, the amount of oil shut in between sept. 13 and tuesday totaled about 8.5 million barrels -- around 1 percent of the annual production from the gulf. Natural gas shut down totaled 36 billion cubic feet, or just less than 1 percent of yearly production.

There are about 600 rigs and platforms operating in the gulf.