Hurricane Isaac

[knocker]

BULLETIN

HURRICANE ISAAC INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 32A...CORRECTED

NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL092012

1200 AM CDT WED AUG 29 2012

CORRECTED SPELLING ERROR IN HEADLINE

...ISAAC MOVING SLOWLY ALONG THE COAST OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND

PRODUCING A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE...FLOODING FROM RAINFALL ALSO

EXPECTED...

SUMMARY OF 1200 AM CDT...0500 UTC...INFORMATION

-----------------------------------------------

LOCATION...29.0N 90.0W

ABOUT 60 MI...95 KM SE OF HOUMA LOUISIANA

ABOUT 70 MI...110 KM S OF NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...80 MPH...130 KM/H

PRESENT MOVEMENT...WNW OR 290 DEGREES AT 7 MPH...11 KM/H

MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...969 MB...28.61 INCHES

WATCHES AND WARNINGS

--------------------

CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY...

NONE.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* EAST OF MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA TO THE MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA BORDER...

INCLUDING METROPOLITAN NEW ORLEANS...LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN...AND LAKE

MAUREPAS

A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* INTRACOASTAL CITY TO MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* THE MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA BORDER TO DESTIN FLORIDA

* MORGAN CITY TO SABINE PASS TEXAS

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* EAST OF HIGH ISLAND TEXAS TO JUST WEST OF SABINE PASS

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA IN THE UNITED

STATES...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE

MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

FORECAST OFFICE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE

THE UNITED STATES...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK

------------------------------

AT 1200 AM CDT...0500 UTC...

AT 1200 AM CDT...0500 UTC...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE ISAAC WAS

LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 29.0 NORTH...LONGITUDE 90.0 WEST. ISAAC HAS

BEEN WOBBLING BUT IS MOVING GENERALLY TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST

NEAR 7 MPH...11 KM/H. A NORTHWESTWARD MOTION AT A SLIGHTLY SLOWER

SPEED IS EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. ON THE FORECAST

TRACK...THE CENTER OF ISAAC WILL CONTINUE MOVING NEAR OR OVER THE

SOUTHEASTERN COAST OF LOUISIANA THIS MORNING...AND MOVE INLAND OVER

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 80 MPH...130 KM/H...WITH HIGHER

GUSTS. ISAAC IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON

HURRICANE WIND SCALE. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS FORECAST THIS

MORNING. SLOW WEAKENING IS EXPECTED AFTER THAT.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM

THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 185

MILES...295 KM. A SUSTAINED WIND OF 44 MPH WITH A GUST TO 69 MPH

WAS OBSERVED WITHIN THE PAST HOUR AT NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT. A SUSTAINED WIND OF 51 MPH WITH A GUST TO 69 MPH WAS

RECENTLY REPORTED AT SHELL BEACH LOUISIANA.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE

HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT WAS 969 MB...28.61 INCHES.

HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND

----------------------

STORM SURGE...THE COMBINATION OF A STORM SURGE AND THE TIDE WILL

CAUSE NORMALLY DRY AREAS NEAR THE COAST TO BE FLOODED BY RISING

WATERS. THE WATER COULD REACH THE FOLLOWING DEPTHS ABOVE GROUND IF

THE PEAK SURGE OCCURS AT THE TIME OF HIGH TIDE...

* MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA...6 TO 12 FT

* ALABAMA...3 TO 6 FT

* SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA...3 TO 6 FT

* FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND APALACHEE BAY...2 TO 4 FT

* REMAINDER OF FLORIDA WEST COAST...1 TO 3 FT

THE DEEPEST WATER WILL OCCUR ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST IN AREAS OF

ONSHORE WINDS. SURGE-RELATED FLOODING DEPENDS ON THE RELATIVE

TIMING OF THE SURGE AND THE TIDAL CYCLE...AND CAN VARY GREATLY OVER

SHORT DISTANCES. FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE

SEE PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. NEAR THE

COAST...THE SURGE WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DANGEROUS WAVES.

A STORM SURGE OF 11.0 FEET WAS RECENTLY REPORTED AT A NATIONAL

OCEAN SERVICE TIDE GAUGE AT SHELL BEACH LOUISIANA. A STORM SURGE

OF 6.9 FEET WAS OBSERVED AT A NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE TIDE GAUGE IN

WAVELAND MISSISSIPPI.

WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE WARNING

AREA THIS MORNING...AND HURRICANE CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD

ONSHORE ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA.

WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER FLOORS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE

SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THOSE NEAR GROUND LEVEL. AT ABOUT THE

30TH STORY...WINDS WOULD LIKELY BE ONE SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY

STRONGER THAN AT THE SURFACE.

RAINFALL...ISAAC IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF

7 TO 14 INCHES...WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 20

INCHES...OVER MUCH OF LOUISIANA...SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...SOUTHERN

ALABAMA...AND THE EXTREME WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE. THESE RAINS

COULD RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT LOWLAND FLOODING.

TORNADOES...ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE CENTRAL GULF

COAST REGION AND PARTS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY

THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

SURF...DANGEROUS SURF AND RIP CURRENT CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO

AFFECT THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA AND THE NORTHERN GULF COAST FOR THE

NEXT DAY OR SO.

NEXT ADVISORY

-------------

NEXT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY...200 AM CDT.

NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...400 AM CDT.

$$

FORECASTER PASCH/ROBERTS

[Iceberg]

In some ways very luck that Isaac didn't get tis act together 48 hrs earlier pressure now 969mb some areas from new Orleans southwards have had over 4 inches of rain already and several areas of 60mph winds. Tide surges in new orleans bay area 10ft or so above normal and the eye is still offshore.

[Coast]

Webcams:

http://www.nola.com/bridgecam/

http://www.nola.com/rivercam/

http://www.portno.com/pno_pages/about_webcam_out.htm

Doppler radar:

http://www.wwltv.com/weather/radar

[vortex_liam]

Been growing overnight!

[Coast]

Isaac on a similar path to Hurricane Katrina

Isaac is on a similar path to Hurricane Katrina, the devastating storm that slammed the Gulf Coast on Aug., 29, 2005. A look at the track of each storm:

Hurricane Isaac stalls along the Louisiana and Gulf coasts

NEW ORLEANS – Hurricane Isaac stalled over the Gulf Coast Wednesday morning, unleashing damaging 80 mile-per -hour winds and drenching New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities with heavy rain that flooded streets and roadways.

Isaac, upgraded from tropical storm to Category 1 hurricane earlier Tuesday, touched land in Plaquemines Parish, about 90 miles southeast of New Orleans Tuesday evening before heading back over the Gulf of Mexico. By 3 a.m. EST, the storm remained stationary about 70 miles south of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane is expected to make landfall again overnight near Grand Isle. Because it is moving so slowly, the storm system could dump up to 20 inches of rain in some areas and cause major flooding as a storm surge pushes water from the Gulf into coastal cities. The hurricane center says Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana could see peak surges of 12 feet.

By midnight, early reports of damage began to trickle out. Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune newspaper that parts of the roof of his home were blown off and water was poring inside. Nungesser told the newspaper the high winds sweeping inland appear to be backing up water on the Mississippi River, bringing the water level within a foot or two from the top of the levee at the Pointe à la Hache ferry landing. "I was scared driving south," Nungesser told the newspaper. "We saw a few poles down during Hurricane Gustav, but these poles are snapped off at the ground. I'm just in awe that this is happening."

He told TheTimes-Picayune that if water tops the river levees, it could begin to undermine the whole structure, given enough time. "We're not in danger of flooding at this minute. But how long are these heavy winds going to hold up?" Nungesser said. Wind gusts of more than 80 mph extended 60 miles from the slow-slogging storm's center, with winds of nearly 40 mph extending up to 185 miles. New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina nearly seven years ago to the day, was reporting 60-mph winds and drenching rains. Mayor Mitch Landrieu said about 1,000 National Guard troops are positioned in the city, working with police, firefighters and standing by for rescue operations. "Your city is secure," he said.

The National Weather Service issued a warning of "life-threatening flooding" possible outside hurricane protection levees and in areas around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas. The warning said sections of west Jefferson, east St. Charles and lower Lafourche hurricane protection levees could be topped. Areas outside hurricane protection levees will be severely inundated, it said. "People not heeding evacuation orders in single-family, one- or two-story homes could face certain death," the hurricane center said, urging residents who don't evacuate to "take along a life jacket and ax to chop through the roof in the event severe flooding occurs."

"We're going to see heavy rain and serious winds," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said in Baton Rouge. "The biggest challenge is going to be the rain and making sure the pumps work." The fate of New Orleans rests largely on a web of pumps and outfall canals capable of pumping massive amounts of water from city streets. The pumps are part of a $14-billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers overhaul of the hurricane protection system launched after the 2005 storm surge from Hurricane Katrina rushed into the city's pumping stations and overwhelmed the system. Multiple breaches caused the city to flood, leading to hundreds of drownings and damaging neighborhoods. By Tuesday afternoon, engineers had closed all 127 floodgates sealing the 200 miles of perimeter around the metro area of New Orleans, hoping to stop water from the surging Gulf.

As Isaac's outer bands began bending trees and lashing rain across the city, those who chose to stay battened down homes, picked up supplies and snuck in last-minute trips to local bars. Most stores throughout New Orleans started to close shortly after noon, and residents parked cars on grassy areas in the middle of streets, known as "neutral grounds," to keep them out of flooded streets.

Jim Rehkoph evacuated when Katrina hit, and the floods that followed the storm destroyed his home and most of his belongings. After moving to another house, built 12 feet above ground in the same Lakeview neighborhood - he's staying put. But bracing for a hurricane every few years is tiring. "I should sell my house and move,'' he said. "But where am I going to go at 60-years-old?" In other low-lying neighborhoods near rising Lake Pontchartrain, many homes were empty by Tuesday afternoon. Some residents who remained showed little fear of the approaching hurricane. Dean Marshall, 49, stepped into Seminole Grocery for cigarettes and beer, then returned to his apartment. Marshall said he has endured many storms and is confident flood protections installed since Katrina devastated the city would hold back the water this time. "I'm not worried at all," he said. "We're going to ride it out."

Scores of fliers weren't coming in, or leaving. Flights to and from New Orleans were canceled Tuesday, and United and Southwest said operations would be halted until Thursday. United has 30 daily New Orleans round trips, and Southwest has 84. Flights at other airports along the northern Gulf Coast also are feeling Issac's pinch. Already, more than 1,300 cancellations have been reported in Florida. That number could approach 2,000 once the New Orleans and northern Gulf Coast disruptions are factored in. Most airlines have waived fees for rebooking flights canceled because of Isaac.

On the Alabama coast, Isaac began pelting the shore with intermittent downpours — one moment it was dry, and the next brought rain blowing sideways in a strong breeze. In Mississippi, beachfront casinos shut down as a road flooded and residents hurried to shelters. More than 1,800 people sought refuge in shelters across the state Tuesday night. Biloxi, Miss., Police Chief John Miller warned that any motorists caught on the road until 7 a.m. can expect to be pulled over. Officials there were worried about flooding and the tide expected to start coming in around 1 a.m., he said. "People need to remain vigilant — and off the roads," Miller said in a statement. Officials were preparing for the worst.

After touring much of the Mississippi coast Tuesday, Gov. Phil Bryant said the storm surge will clearly be a problem. Many sections of Highway 90 and other beachfront roads repaired after Katrina were already pooling with water hours before Isaac was set to come ashore. "The water is rising more rapidly than the Weather Service had predicted," he said. During a visit to Gulfport, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said he worried that coastal residents were not fully appreciating the damage Isaac could do. Fugate, who headed Florida's emergency management division when the state was hit by four major hurricanes in 2004, said Isaac's slow approach could bring flood-producing rains for days and prolonged periods of tornadoes.

"We could see impacts … well away from the coast," Fugate said. Search-and-rescue teams — including 48 boat teams deployed to areas prone to flooding and in direct path of the storm — have been mobilized, and Louisiana officials have asked teams from Texas and six other states to be on standby. Power crews, linemen and tree-trimmers are ready to restore power as quickly as possible if there are outages. Damage assessments, including aerial surveillance, could begin as early as Friday, Jindal said.

Louisiana has mobilized 40 "pods" in the southern part of the state and 20 in northern Louisiana — each designed to feed 5,000 people, Jindal said.More than 320,000 Louisiana homes and businesses lost power by early Wednesday, the Entergy power company reported. The company has 3,750 workers outside the area on standby, spokesman Philip Allison said earlier Tuesday. Some crews responded to scattered outages until winds kicked up, making it unsafe for workers in bucket trucks, he said.

Across the region, schools and government offices have closed, hospitals and nursing homes have been evacuated and entire towns have been told to leave for higher ground. Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans closed outpatient services and rescheduled elective surgeries. The hospital doesn't plan to move patients unless a storm is predicted to reach Category 3. Spokeswoman Susan Kaufmann said the facility has stocked up on food, medical supplies, emergency communications equipment and additional back-up power generators. After evacuating patients following Katrina and closing for several months for storm repairs, "we're highly prepared and ready to go," Kaufmann said.

The Interim Louisiana State University Public Hospital in New Orleans, which normally houses about 170 patients on site and 29 psychiatric patients at another facility, began preparing in earnest once it was clear Isaac was going to enter the Gulf of Mexico. Tuesday morning, 500 staffers and doctors showed up, preparing for a three-day stay. Patients who were able to be discharged were sent home and off-site psychiatric patients were sent to a state facility in Pineville, La. Procedures not considered emergencies, such as elective surgeries, were canceled until Friday. The hospital is ready, due in part to lessons learned from Katrina, CEO Roxane Townsend said. "We've been hardened to be able to with stand up to a Category 4 hurricane."

About 1,400 state residents have sought shelter outside their homes, Jindal said. Louisiana has about 7,500 available beds in state shelters, but as of Tuesday morning, only 460 were occupied. Early Tuesday, some of the first evacuees from New Orleans arrived in Shreveport, including 150 students from Dillard University, who were supposed to start school Monday. Instead, those who didn't have family or friends nearby, loaded onto charter buses at 5 p.m. Monday, arriving in Shreveport at about 3 a.m., said Jerald Bowman, a Dillard administrator. An exodus out of New Orleans made for bumper-to-bumper traffic with long lines at gas stations, some of which were out of gas. "It was almost like pandemonium," Bowman said. Some will stay at Centenary College gymnasium, others at a Red Cross shelter.

Nigerian Ezinne Eziyi, 20, hadn't experienced a hurricane before, but was considering the evacuation and impromptu trip to Shreveport a learning opportunity. "I'm trying to make the best out of it," she said. Many Louisiana residents of the low-lying coast left boarded-up homes for inland shelter while some in New Orleans were torn between fleeing the metro area and trusting in a system that failed famously under Katrina. "I find it eerie and ironic that it's landing on the exact day," said Timolynn Sams, a New Orleans community activist who chose to ride out the storm at a friend's house across the river in Jefferson Parish. "It's also a reminder. Katrina will always be a part of us. It's etched in our history, as memorable as Mardi Gras."

Officials were concerned that residents would get complacent and decide not to evacuate or take precautions. President Obama urged Louisiana residents to follow officials' instructions regarding the approach of Isaac. "Now is not the time to tempt fate, now is not the time to dismiss official warnings," Obama said. "You need to take this seriously." Obama issued an emergency declaration for areas of Mississippi under threat of rain and high winds. The declaration frees up federal resources to help state and local agencies dealing with the storm and its aftermath and makes federal support available to save lives, protect public health and safety and preserve property in coastal areas.

Along the coast of Alabama, some cities amended evacuation orders as the storm tracked west of the state. The coastal city of Orange Beach didn't plan to order evacuations unless the storm's trajectory shifted, Mayor Tony Kennon said, and most residents stayed put. Bands of rain moved across the area Tuesday morning, alternating with periods of bright sunshine. Mary and Stillman Knight, who have owned an Orange Beach home for 22 years, planned to ride out the storm. "They finished installing our new hurricane shutters yesterday," Mary Knight said. "It was fortuitous."

Knight said she and her husband, a real estate developer, dealt with many small hurricanes at a home they owned in Montrose, Ala. "You lose four-five days of your life because you're getting ready for the worst storm whether it comes or not," she said. "It's hard to think about much of anything else. You never know until the last minute exactly where it's going to go. Every hurricane is exhausting."

As heavy dark clouds moved over Mobile, things seemed less frenzied than Monday.

"The weather today is really not that bad," said Brandon Harper, 36, gassing up at a Texaco on Spring Hill Avenue. "It turned west toward Louisiana, and when it did that, we stopped worrying as much."

Nancy Isaacson, 59, of Waveland, Miss., lost everything except for a pair of blue lamps when Katrina decimated Waveland along with much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She's staying across the railroad tracks from her house at a friend's place in a northern part of Waveland. "It's kind of scary leaving the house, but it'll be OK," Isaacson said. "It'll survive. This hurricane is upsetting, but not devastating." Isaacson is no stranger to survival. Four years after Katrina, her older son, Kevin, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Nineteen days later, her husband left her. One year, one month and one day after that, her younger son, Chris, was killed. "I've had my share of tragedy," she said.

Tony Mattina understands the power of a hurricane. When Katrina tore through Biloxi, Miss., his parents, grandparents and sister lost their homes. As he glanced at still-empty lots across the street from his home, Mattina said so many others endured similar experiences that there is no worry of hurricane complacency. "Every day that goes by, there's always a reference to Katrina," said Messina, 49, as he boarded up his house. "There are still people living in temporary housing. There is still so much missing from Katrina. So I think we've done everything we can to prepare." Although Isaac's approach on the eve of the Katrina anniversary invited obvious comparisons, the storm is nowhere near as powerful as Katrina, which reached Category 5 status with winds of nearly 160 mph and made landfall as a Category 3 storm. Isaac left 24 dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic but left little damage in the Florida Keys as it blew past. It promised a soaking but little more for Tampa, where the planned start of the Republican National Convention on Monday was pushed back because of the storm.

Isaac is the fourth hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, following Chris, Ernesto and Gordon. A typical season sees six hurricanes. Preseason forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called for four to eight hurricanes, while Colorado State University forecasters called for five hurricanes.

http://www.usatoday....44/1?csp=34news

[knocker]

The 06z analysis and latest Orleans radar.

[summer blizzard]

Second landfall made (the first was a clip on the bit that sticks out) although Issac is stationary so depending which way it drifts this won't be giving up yet.

Maximum surge is 11ft, maximum gust is 114mph and the amount of rain predicted is shocking.

A levee has been toppled at one of the lakes, not sure what this means for NO.

[Red Raven]

18miles of levee over topped with 4'9 flooding on landside according to some tweets coming in.

[lfcdude]

Fox news... Plaquemines parish levee is over toppled 6 to 7 feet of water people trapped and rescue is under way

[SalopWatcher]

Not sure if this has ever been posted, but the map looks even better with a hurricane on it. (saw this on Twitter!)

http://hint.fm/wind/

[Zenarcher]

Satellite image of Isaac,

Latest wind speeds http://windmapper.com/CE/observations

[gottolovethisweather]

Oh dear. I do hope this storm doesn't do a 2005 all over again.

Anyone got any good streaming links guys n gals?

Edited August 29, 2012 by gottolovethisweather

[Coast]

Hurricane Isaac Moves Into Louisiana

Storm Surge Is Main Concern Along Shoreline; Water Tops One Levee

NEW ORLEANS—Hurricane Isaac lashed New Orleans with 70-mile-per-hour winds and heavy rain, but the slow-moving storm appeared to be veering west of the hunkered-down city Wednesday morning, seven years to the day after the much more powerful Katrina.

About 75% of New Orleans residents were without power and there was some minor street flooding, according to emergency officials. The storm's surge topped a levee in a sparsely populated community south of the city, closer to the mouth of the Mississippi River.

At 8 a.m. ET, the Category 1 hurricane was about 50 miles south-southwest of New Orleans, packing sustained winds of 80 miles an hour after making landfall in Louisiana Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said. It was plodding northwest at six miles per hour, toward Houma, La., west of New Orleans. A hurricane warning remained in effect from east of Morgan City in Louisiana to the Mississippi-Alabama border.

Isaac's center is forecast to move over Louisiana on Wednesday and Thursday, before crossing into southern Arkansas by early Friday. Forecasters expect the hurricane—which was wobbling but moving in a generally northwest direction at about 6 miles per hour—to weaken as it moves over land. With Hurricane Isaac due to make landfall on the Gulf Coast early Wednesday.

In Mississippi, the main beachfront highway, U.S. 90, was closed in sections by storm surge flooding. At one spot in Biloxi, a foot of water covered the in-town highway for a couple of blocks and it looked like more was coming in. High tide around 9:30 a.m. was likely to bring up more water. In largely abandoned Plaquemines Parish, storm surge was piling up against levees between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River along the boot of Louisiana. A levee on the parish's evacuated east bank had been overtopped. Sheriff's deputies were going house to house getting residents who had remained after an earlier evacuation to move to higher ground. No injuries were reported and streets were passable, according to a spokeswoman.

The Category 1 storm was far less powerful than Hurricane Katrina, which struck on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005. On Tuesday night, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the city had "dodged a bullet" with Isaac. New Orleans is unusual in that much of it lies below sea level, which means that even though it is protected from surrounding coastal waters and the Mississippi River by levees and floodgates, it still can be easily overwhelmed by rains.

New Orleans relies on a system of 24 drainage pump stations to empty it of rainwater. About $1 billion has been spent since Katrina repairing and modernizing the pump stations, said Marcia St. Martin, executive director of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. But they can remove only an inch of water on streets in the first hour after the pumps are turned on and half an inch each hour after that—making flooding inevitable during heavy rainfall.

The 24 pumps "will be able to keep up, but there are no pumps in the world fast enough to keep the land dry when that much water is falling," Mr. Landrieu said. "Our greatest hope is that the storm starts going a lot faster, because if it hovers over us, that's a bad situation for us," the mayor said.

Katrina-style flooding—in which the surrounding coastal waters pushed over and through some levees and gates—wasn't expected, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said during a tour of some of the improvements to the city's flood-control system Tuesday.

"Nobody is expecting these levees to be overtopped, certainly not breached, given the investments that have been made," Mr. Jindal said as he visited the 17th Street Canal in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb, whose 11 gates, each weighing 11 tons, are closed during storms. "But the rainfall does present a huge challenge." Further south, near the Louisiana coast, many residents sought shelter or evacuated, but not Calvin Loupe. He boarded up the windows on the house he rents in Lockport, La., stocked up on water, filled jugs with gasoline to power his generator and sat on a wooden rocker on the front porch—waiting for Isaac.

"This house has been through many a storm," said Mr. Loupe, 54, whose leathery skin testifies to years of working in the surrounding sugar-cane fields. "It doesn't really get me nervous." Toney Dardar also hunkered down, noting that a levee had protected his home in Golden Meadow, La., for 20 years. The shrimp-boat owner saw a silver lining: "Usually this weather makes shrimp plentiful," he said.

Energy companies shut down nearly all offshore oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and their natural-gas output was cut by about two-thirds. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which oversees offshore-oil-and-gas operations, estimated that 1.3 million barrels a day of crude, or 93% of the oil production in the Gulf's federal waters, was offline by early afternoon Tuesday. About a quarter of U.S. oil production takes place in the Gulf region, and refineries along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts contain nearly one-fifth of the country's capacity to process crude oil into diesel, gasoline and other fuels.

Evacuations are routine during the Atlantic hurricane season, and most observers said they expect Hurricane Isaac to leave little damage in its wake. Since Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built up a $15 billion ring of defenses in and around New Orleans—a 350-mile flood-protection network designed to protect it from a so-called 100-year storm or flood, roughly the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, which Katrina was when it made landfall. Still, some engineers and local politicians have argued the defenses may not be stout enough for the most severe hurricanes the city can face.

"It really ought to be something higher,'' said David Moreau, a city and regional planning professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Still, he said he doubted that Isaac had "fury enough" to test the defenses like Katrina did.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443409904577618782315012076.html

[lfcdude]

Of another forum... but it don't look good...

[Braithwait, Louisiana

Someone is stuck on top of their roof. They took a cell phone camera photo and tweeted it.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/39/54652435416566800244917.jpg

[Coast]

Anyone got any good streaming links guys n gals?

I'm not sure if this is any good:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hurricane-isaac-cam

or here:

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/isaac-live-reports-20120828

[lfcdude]

http://rootsbd.com/w...urricane-center

Channel 8 showing pictures... flooding upto rooftops plaquemines parish

Edited August 29, 2012 by lfcdude

[knocker]

Midday analysis

[gottolovethisweather]

The hurricane is stalling, which is clearly not good news. A lack of reported casualties and injuries as to be expected but 35,000 plus folk are without power. All these reports come courtesy of the links posted by LFC and Coast.

[Coast]

FOX 31 live blog and updates:

http://kdvr.com/2012/08/28/live-blog-isaac-bearing-down-on-louisiana-coast/

[lfcdude]

http://viewoutage.entergy.com/la.aspx Power outage map Affected Customers: 544008 Last Updated: Aug 29, 10:01 AM Edited August 29, 2012 by lfcdude

[knocker]

Tornado warning for McLain on latest Orleans radar.

Edited August 29, 2012 by knocker

[Coast]

Where is Isaac going to go next then?

Likely to be back to a Tropical Depression when it gets up to Chicago?

Hurricane ISAAC: Probability of tropical storm winds to 69 hours lead

[Thunder Snow]

Downgraded to ts

[Coast]

Isaac's storm surge tops La. levee

NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Isaac, downgraded from a hurricane about 19 hours after making landfall, drove water over a levee in a lightly populated part of Plaquemines Parish, flattened sugar cane 50 miles west in Terrebonne Parish, forced evacuation of a neighborhood in St. John the Baptist Parish and knocked out power to more than 700,000 households and businesses statewide.

State officials were debating whether to make a hole in the low levee near Braithwaite, where dozens of people who had ignored an evacuation order needed rescue, Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday. Garret Graves, head of the Coastal Protection Restoration Authority, said it's too dangerous to breach the levee until the weather stabilizes, but it probably will be done so water can flow back into the bay.

Parish spokeswoman Caitlin Campbell said an 18-mile stretch from the St. Bernard Parish line at Braithwaite south to White Ditch was taking water and homes were flooding as storm surge piled up against levees between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. Civilian volunteers in boats, Louisiana National Guard troops in high-water vehicles and boats and sheriff's deputies from St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes were going house-to-house.

"This is a local levee. They knew it's prone to flooding. That's why it was under a mandatory evacuation order. About 20 people or so didn't leave," said Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of Louisiana State Police. "We're going to get out there to them. We're going to do everything we can to get them out of there. But we're not going to put further people in harm's way," Edmonson said.

The first confirmed storm-related death in Louisiana was reported in Vermilion Parish, where a man who went to help friends move a vehicle from under a tree climbed up the tree and fell 18 feet to his death. Carlos Medellin-Guillen, 36, of Erath, died Tuesday evening shortly before Isaac made landfall 170 miles away. Wednesday afternoon brought some good news: the storm was weakening more quickly than expected, with peak winds of 50 mph.

Worry about storm surge in Plaquemines Parish prompted a mandatory evacuation Wednesday for the west bank of the Mississippi River below Belle Chasse. Isaac bounced off the mouth of the Mississippi River Tuesday night, making its first landfall. It then stalled over Grand Isle, Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island. Jefferson Parish President John Young said 30 to 40 people stayed on Grand Isle, and all were safe.

Elsewhere, the storm drove sheets of rain through the nearly deserted streets of New Orleans as a population mindful of the powerful punch dealt by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago waited for the storm to get out of their lives. Isaac had stalled along the coast early Wednesday before resuming a move to the northwest hours later. Forecasters said the storm could drop up to 20 inches of rain, though city of New Orleans spokesman Ryan Berni said only minor street flooding and fallen trees were reported overnight. He had no immediate reports of injuries or looting.

Slidell Mayor Freddy Drennan said most of the city was without power, and conditions were still too dangerous for standby Cleco utility crews to attempt to restore power. Floodgates were closed on area waterways to block Isaac's storm surge, part of the flood protection system rebuilt with billions of dollars of federal aid after Hurricane Katrina struck seven years ago. Large pumps designed to remove any floodwater from the low-lying level city on the Mississippi River were functioning as planned, Berni said. Entergy Corp. and Cleco Corp. said the 720,000 customers without power included more than 400,000 in the metro New Orleans area, including 54,000 in St. Tammany Parish. More than 81,000 were without power in East Baton Rouge Parish.

"Isaac is testing everyone's patience with its slow movement through south Louisiana," said Bill Mohl, Entergy Louisiana, LLC president and CEO

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[lfcdude]

Breaking news dam is failing and people our being evacuated... more to follow... on BBC news...

So did a Google and this is what has come up

The dam on Lake Tangipahoa at Percy Quinn State Park in McComb, Ms has been overtopped and is failing. Complete failure is certain. Authorities are telling people in Kentwood and Robert, La to get out now. They have 90 mins before the water reaches them.

Edited August 30, 2012 by lfcdude