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Subscribe to RSSNew Orleans may see six to 12 inches of rain, and is gearing up to be one of the worse blows to hit the city since Katrina. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.
Updated at 2 a.m. ET: Unprotected, low-lying areas outside New Orleans were evacuated Monday as Tropical Storm Isaac grew closer to becoming a hurricane that could make landfall in or near Louisiana almost seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina struck.
"All preparations to protect life and property should be completed tonight," said Ed Rappaport of the National Hurricane Center in his 8 p.m. ET Monday update. He emphasized that water from rain and storm surge would be the biggest threat -- 6 to 18 inches of rain are expected.
Isaac's wind speed increased to 70 mph, just 4 mph short of a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said in a late afternoon update. It also forecast Isaac would reach Category 2 status with 100 mph winds late Tuesday night. That's a stronger Isaac than was forecast earlier Monday.
By 2 a.m. ET Tuesday, the center of the storm was 145 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River with maximum sustained winds still at 70mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Isaac was predicted to slow down upon landfall, which forecasters say could be the ultimate test of $14 billion upgrade to its levees and pumps.
In areas near New Orleans, mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday morning for "our low-lying areas — those outside the hurricane protection system — such as Lafitte, Crown Point, Barataria and Grand Isle," Jefferson Parish President John Young told TODAY.
Plaquemines Parish, which stretches 60 miles out into the Gulf, also issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 7,000 residents on its east bank starting at noon Monday.
"We’re telling them to get out," Parish President Bill Nungesser told MSNBC. "We’re going to get hit first and we’re going to take the worst beating of this storm. So people are heading up the highway now."
"In our parish there’s one road in and one road out," he added, "and it’s steady traffic flowing out the parish as we speak."
Isaac is expected to be the first major test of a $14 billion makeover of the system that failed the city so disastrously in 2005. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Parts of Lafourche, St. Charles, St. John parishes saw mandatory evacuations as well.
The governors of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency as a hurricane warning went into effect for a 300-mile swath that extended into Florida. The warning area was later narrowed to between Morgan City, La., and the Alabama-Florida border. President Barack Obama approved Louisiana's request for federal disaster declaration, Governor Bobby Jindal said. The approval makes federal funds available for disaster recovery activities like clearing debris, Reuters reported.
"Tonight is when the conditions will start to go downhill" ahead of landfall by Tuesday night, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said in a morning update.
Isaac will probably move slowly inland, possibly dumping as much as 18 inches of rain in places, Knabb said.
"That's going to be the big problem," NBC meteorologist Al Roker said on TODAY. "We're talking about potentially 24 hours of hurricane force winds and heavy rain."
"Storm surge is going to be a big, big problem," he added. "Six to twelve feet above normal as you get to New Orleans. Panama City is about four to seven feet."
Related: Follow Isaac's path with our storm tracker
The hurricane warning area includes New Orleans, which was devastated when Hurricane Katrina swept over the city on August 29, 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing billions of dollars of damage along the coast. A hurricane hasn't hit the Gulf Coast since Ike in 2008.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a briefing Monday that schools and City Hall had closed and that the city's defense network of levees and pumps was ready.
NBC's Lester Holt reports from New Orleans, La., where residents and visitors are prepping for Tropical Storm Isaac as it threatens to strengthen into a hurricane before landfall.
"All pumps are operational," he said. "We are well prepared to go."
Landrieu earlier noted the irony of Isaac's arrival. "The timing, as fate would have it, on the anniversary of Katrina has everybody in a state of alertness, but that is a good thing," he said.
If Isaac makes landfall a bit west of New Orleans, that puts the city in the northeast quadrant of the storm, Roker noted, "and that's the worst place" for storm impact.
With tropical storm force winds that extend 205 miles from its center, Isaac is an unusually wide storm.
"Impacts will be far to the east and to the west of where it comes ashore," Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told TODAY.
TODAY's Savannah Guthrie talks to Jefferson Parish president John Young about possible impact of Tropical Storm Isaac on Louisiana, how residents should prepare and when voluntary evacuations will become mandatory.
Related: Reshuffled Republican convention to proceed on Tuesday
Robert Latham, the director of Mississippi's emergency management agency, urged residents to prepare for the storm's possible arrival.
"This is important to remember, this is a huge storm," he said. "I don't have to tell you what a storm like that can do."
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered mandatory evacuations beginning on Monday for residents in low-lying areas along the coast.
Oil companies earlier evacuated workers and cut production at Gulf offshore rigs.
Weather.com reported that areas as far west as extreme southeast Texas should continue to monitor Isaac's progress in case a farther west track materializes.
Alan Diaz / AP
Tropical Storm Isaac rakes the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba as begins to bear down on Florida, where Tampa will be hosting the Republican National Convention.
Some Gulf residents started stocking up on supplies and securing their homes. In New Orleans, long lines formed at some gas stations and in Gulfport, Miss., people crowded supermarkets to buy bottled water and canned food.
On Sunday, the storm lashed the Florida Keys and Miami area with wind and rain. Monday morning, some 80,000 south Florida homes and businesses were without electricity due to downed trees that fell on power lines.
The hurricane warning area includes "quite a few oil rigs," said National Hurricane Center meteorologist Jessica Schauer, but perhaps not the heart of the U.S. offshore oil patch, which produces about 23 percent of U.S. oil output and 7 percent of its natural gas.
Once ashore, the storm could wreak havoc on low-lying fuel refineries along the Gulf Coast that account for about 40 percent of U.S. refining capacity.
That could send gasoline prices spiking just ahead of the Labor Day holiday, analysts told Reuters. "It's going right in the heart of refinery row," Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group in Chicago, said Sunday.
From weather.com: Live updates and analysis
Isaac's westward track meant the worst of its weather missed Tampa, where the Republican National Convention was to open its four-day meeting on Monday — but official events were delayed until Tuesday because of the storm.
Tampa and much of Florida's west coast and panhandle saw bands of heavy rain on Tuesday morning.
"There's an isolated tornado threat in central Florida up through the northeastern Gulf area," Knabb said. "Just because the center is out in the Gulf don't think that in Florida there aren't some hazards."
Several Republican governors from Gulf states have altered their plans for the GOP convention. Alabama's Gov. Bentley and Louisiana's Gov. Jindal canceled their trips to Tampa. Florida Gov. Rick Scott gave up a chance to speak.
NBC's Chuck Todd reports from Tampa, Fla., where delays at the Republican National Convention due to Tropical Storm Isaac are set to disrupt the lead-up to Mitt Romney's acceptance of the Republican nomination for president.
U.S. grain elevators on the Gulf coast were shut and barges carrying grain and other goods on the lower Mississippi River were halted in preparation for the storm. Archer Daniels Midland closed four elevators in New Orleans, while Cargill said elevators in Westwego and Reserve, Louisiana, will be closed.
"We have activated our hurricane readiness plan and are taking precautions to ensure the safety of our employees and their families, as well as the security of our assets in the New Orleans area," ADM spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said.
The Mississippi River is a major channel for the movement of grain produced in the Midwest farm belt to export terminals at the Gulf of Mexico for shipment across the world.
"The safety of our employees is the top priority," Cargill told Reuters.
In south Florida, winds from Isaac forced cancellations of hundreds of flights in and out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other south Florida airports on Sunday.
Isaac is also affecting cruises around Florida and the Caribbean, according to Cruise Critic, a website that covers the industry. Cruise lines have kept ships at sea, altered itineraries and delayed departures of upcoming sailings, Cruise Critic reported.
Related: South hopes for drought relief from Isaac
Isaac moved into the Gulf of Mexico after spending several days sweeping across the Caribbean.
In Haiti, Isaac added to the misery of more than 350,000 survivors of the 2010 earthquake still living in flimsy resettlement camps as water gushed into tents and corrugated plastic shacks were ripped apart by the wind.
Authorities in the impoverished nation said the storm had killed eight people, including three children.
In the Dominican Republic, officials said three people were missing, and confirmed the death of the mayor of a town near Santo Domingo, who was swept away as he tried to save another person from a flooded river.
No deaths or injuries were reported in Cuba, which got off lightly when the storm crossed its eastern flank instead of raking up the length of the island as originally predicted.
Weather.com, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Ok, here we go AGAIN, Again with days of warnings which administration will take the blame for another travesty? Now AGAIN those individuals who cannot seem to leave New Orleans are gonna end up with a entitlement mentality BUT I suspect their beloved president will not get the blame, being such a good president and all, ya know we can make excuses for him.
So far, President Obama has performed very well in his handling of national emergencies. Bush was not blamed for Katrina, just for his terrible handling of it.
It can be very difficult for people living in poverty, without cars, to leave their homes during a natural disaster.
Can always blame the GOP convention. Must be some way to do that.
The primary responsibility to declare a state of emergency lies with the Governors. This time they'reall Republican and they did declare a state of emergency. During Katrina, the Governor and New Orleans mayor were Democrat and did nothing. All the problems after the levies overflowed are their fault. For 6 months after the storm many of my fellow Floridians and others were there, I listened to a lot of survival stories and not once did politics come up. Hurting people only care that your there. I'd venture to say that many people bad mouthing President Bush's responce to the crises did nothing to help the hurting.
I am so tired of hearing New Orleans this, New Orleans that! Has anyone recently seen the devastation left by Katrina 7 years ago on the Mississippi coast??? We are slowly rebuilding from nothing in some areas, but we aren't whining about it!! Just don't forget about us when you are talking about devastation from hurricanes!!!
Hope they are ready for BP's corexit soaked tarballs and tarmats that BP will say aren't theirs... They need to prepare to get samples and fight to get them to clean it up. Stay safe folks and use gloves while collecting your proof.
This is what happens when you put a Jewish name on something, all hell breaks out !!!!
Issac is not a Jewish name, it is Hebrew....
Pakinpastor-1733812
Never the less,
AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A PASTOR
Read more: #ixzz24lGCwapv
Christian, Jewish or Muslim, we are all sons and daughters of Abraham so what exactly is your point?
My point is
That because we have so many Jews are here in west palm beach that we no longer have ketchup salt or pepper on the tables at restaurants. All the Jews were stealing them so now we have to ask for them.
Did Abraham teach them to do this
Thats funny. It's true. When they came over in boats to the New York harbor in the 1920's they lied about who they were and changed their lasts names to blend in. why lie? Be proud to be a Jew. They have a foul history and much hatered, thats why......They know who they are and lied their way through life, now that they have protection here after all these years they are showing their true colors.
Not only does Miguel Llanos, who wrote this article, need geography lessons "... from Morgan City, La., westward to Destin, FL," (Florida is east of Louisiana)
a desk calendar may be helpful as well ...
"Tampa and much of Florida's west coast and panhandle saw bands of heavy rain on Tuesday morning."
I just checked, and it's still Monday in this hemisphere.
does the media remember the region that was devasted the most from Karina 7 years ago? It is called Mississippi! Town demolished to the bare ground, why is it always New Orleans that they talk about? Because we don' whine and complain about what happened to us, we just picked up what was left and started over...
So much for Issac, what a wussie storm! I have never seen such evacuations and shut downs for a tropical storm not a hurricane and yet still monday not a hurricane. Katrina was a Cat 3!! People a category 3 hurricane. It was bad - the levies broke in New Orleans remember. This is not even a one.
oh god not again! i will pray for everybody over there! my sister lives in pensacola florida and i always worry for her and her husband when these crazy storms hit there!
The people of Louisiana have plenty of notice to protect themselves and their property. I would be very disappointed to see pictures again of people on roof tops holding out their hand awaiting Uncle Sugar to arrive.
The problem with Katrina wasn't the hurricane, which was only a category 3. The problem was that the levees collapsed. But thank you for the sympathy for the families of the 1,800+ people killed in the flooding. Even libertarians admit that this is a legitimate government purpose.
Leaving already? No chance to sack Walmart.
They still have a list of the good stuff from last time. High on the list will be the sausage counter at that meat market. Free worst and a convenient dry spot for the media to conduct interviews.
WOW! I must admit, that I give all the Glory to God the Father, but to say that this is heading to the gulf as a punishment, may well be a bit off. We do have weather coming at us from all seasons. I believe when God does make Himself known, it will be done so as to have no doubt that it was Him who did it! Now, God is in nature, but I believe before we see the end of this next year we will see just what God has for all nations of the earth that have mocked Him. But mark it well, He will make sure you know it is He that does it and not by a fluke storm. I'm not saying that He cannot use a storm, but I know that the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob will make sure He is declared to be The God in Heaven above! Ane He will use any and all means at His disposal! May His Kingdom come!!
New Orleans Civil Defense Plan: Neglect storm warnings. Party hearty. Stay put. Lose your home or die in the process. Blame the gubment' for the disaster. Use bigoted, racist rhetoric to make your point. Get gubment' funds to rebuild. Repeat process.
Katrina was a category 4 weakened to a 3 before landfall. Isaac will be a category 1. This is nothing but a media event, many of which, like CNN, are using for and excuse to not cover the GOP convention. This is not to say there will not be problems with the left wing media at the Dem convention due to the massive sucking sound coming from their lips.
nibor
Don't fool yourself here, a category 1 storm can still cause a lot of damage and serious flooding.
I spent 5 years in Florida. We had significantly more damage and flooding from an unnamed tropical storm than the hurricane that passed through in '98. Any storm down there has the potential for great damage if you happen to be in the right place when it hits.
tucsand
nibor
Don't fool yourself here, a category 1 storm can still cause a lot of damage and serious flooding.
You are right, we live here on the East Coast of Florida right in the middle of this terrible storm, and we just got news that 20 homes were destroyed, only problem I see is that they were aluminum cans AKA trailer trash and it was caused by a tornado. ooooohhhhh cat.1 I am afraid
and CNN is hoping pulling out of covering the convention will cause even more damage.
you people are funny. 1st you hope, wish, pray, the storm will rampage through tampa and you say god must be against the repubs and you hope he destroys them all. then when it changes you claim to feel bad for the "po folks" in "noleans". what a bunch of hippocrites. the god you so casually invoke is no respecter of persons.
for the record, there were 70 earthquakes in LA just yesterday. so the big one may be setting up. and the monster caldera in yellowstone is making ominous rumblings. and if that bad boy blows we are all screwed. be careful what you ask for. it may backfire.
I always wondered why they use the term "Mandatory Evacuation" when they cannot force you to leave?
It means if you stay you are on your own.
We get to see if the improvements in New Orleans worked. If they have to evacuate the nursing homes I hope they use the school buses since they have so many that can be used for transportation. Left in place they (buses) will get flooded anyway. We learn so much from our failures in these disasters. Let looters have food and water. If they have a TV or non essentials shoot them. Buy kitty litter and plastic bags. Put a plastic bag in the toilet and put kitty litter in it. When full replace the bag and all.
MANDATORY EVACUATIONS !! This means get out, leave, your life could be in danger. There were mandatory evacuations for Katrina and the idiot mayor, Nagin, had NO EVACUATION PLAN. City buses, school buses and other public transportation remained parked. The equally stupid governor, had NO EVACUATION PLAN or STATE DISASTER/EMERGENCY PLAN. She waited days to deploy the national guard that is under state supervision. And, since George Bush is no long available to drag through the bayous, if people die it is there own fault. They have been warned. They have had a week to get prepared.
michael
And the ignorant Americans who stayed(with a weeks notice) got what they deserved.
THEY made the decision to stay and it is everyones fault but THEIRS. Don't tell me that with a weeks notice people could not find a way out.
In addition, there were a number of whites who were dumb enough to stay, difference was they were not blaming anyone for their ignorance.
New Orleans, make sure you evacuate the village idiots first this time before they stay back and manipulate the media to gain more sympathy and monetary support.
Looks like God's coming for the Retaliban Party. So sad that many innocents will be hurt due to their evil but they are pushing to be the Hurricane of Iran where this same type of situation is brewing...... Maybe if they reinstate the Glass-Steagall Financial Reform Act which, they and ALEC abolished as of 1/1/2000 delivering unto us a Depression of Global, nay Biblical proportions. Perhaps the warmongering senate majority will stop the WARS they have delivered unto our Globe in Biblical proportions. Perhaps they will rethink their Declaration of War on Women and attempts to criminalize their betters and passing 'laws of refusal' to the poor whilst they blame the economy on them. If it walks like the Taliban and talks like the Taliban, in the USA it's the Retaliban Party! We haven't forgotten the Retaliban's response to Katrina and the 9th ward, it's the same response they've given to the 99% during this Depression.
Present day- "Day can'ts be tellin' us to leaves our homes that our Obama's money's buy'd us. Day just bein rascist!"
Next Week- "Why day didn't told us dis was gonna be up in our grills and told us leave? We needs sum mo Obama's money's cuz the white man dun took all our stuff ageein."
hassole
THAT WAS SOME FUNNY STUFF!
As funny as it was, it is so true.
Racism is never funny.
What was racist about that? Be specific!
hassole
It seems you have been watching HARDCORE PAWN because you have that rubber lip talk down pat. I am still laughing.
Damn, if you have to leave, you can't loot.
It's really sad to see everyone hating on a state/states that is in the United States just as they are. They last time I checked we are "one nation under God". But thats just it, some of you haven't accepted God and that shows!! To me Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana/Florida is not different than Califoria/New Jersey/Maine/New York, I mean the south may have better football and food but thats all hahaha ok joke, but seriously no state is any different than another, just different weather and that's how God made it!! I would never wish a drought on the west, I would never wish a earthquake on any state, i would never wish a tsunami on Hawaii, or a snow storm in the north, or for that matter I would not wish a natural disaster on another country. If everybody could be this way, and im by no where close to being perfect then our world would be a much better place!! But just keep the hate up and God will deliver us from Evil !! Sooo saying this from south Mississippi I want to say to my neighbor states that may be affected by this storm, please stay safe from harm and danger!!
So what are you wishing for..............The Lottery
We need the rain here in Ga but it looks like its going too far west. oh well. Damn drought.
Comment # 55 deleted, racist derail.
E.A., you are suspended for a week for violating rule # 5 of the Code of Honor.
wallace
I am surprised you haven't mentioned slavery as a reason why you are such a failure in life.
You blame right wingers, rich, Fox news, etc. That is the problem with ignorant libs and black Americans like you.
Let us hope that this time around the black Americans will actually leave PRIOR to the storm hitting, due to THEIR stupidity many died and were left in a harsh environment. Of course true to blacks like you wallace, it was everybody elses fault.
All you have is blame and excuses, don't fret, there are tens of millions of WORTHLESS Americans like you.
Republicans love America. They just hate Americans...
clotho
Lets here some proof. Back up your ignorant comment.
Wow, what a shocker!
clotho makes comments time and again, I ask her to back up her comments, nothing.
If you can't back up your comment, don't comment. I don't want your opinion, I want facts.
Wow, what a shocker!
clotho makes comments time and again, I ask her to back up her comments, nothing.
If you can't back up your comment, don't comment. I don't want your opinion, I want facts.
Why don't you watch bait car and see how many dumb a$$s and what color they are for the facts.