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Subscribe to RSSAs flood waters begin to recede in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, folks who live in communities along the Gulf Coast are assessing the damage and their options. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET: The remnants of Hurricane Isaac were grinding slowing northward early on Saturday with its center now deep into Missouri and the heavy rain stretching for hundreds of miles east into Illinois amid reports of tornadoes and high winds, meteorologists said.
Drought-stricken areas of Missouri and Illinois were easily absorbing the rain Friday and the system was expected to soak the region deep into Sunday, said Jayson Gosselin, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's St. Louis-area office.
"We have gotten pretty widespread light to moderate rain that has piled up," Gosselin said. "The rain is certainly going to help our drought situation up here."
Most places in the area were reporting 1 to 3 inches of rain by late on Friday and were expected to see up to 5 inches of rain through Sunday, though some might see "upwards of 5, 6, 7 inches," Gosselin said.
A wide swath of central Illinois from west to east was expected to receive similar amounts of rain as the system slowly passes through the state, the weather service said.
The Weather Channel's Julie Martin takes a look at how the weather conditions are affecting crops in the Midwest.
The weather service received reports of two tornadoes in Illinois and one in Missouri on Friday that caused what looked like fairly minor damage, Gosselin said. Two possible storm tracks will probably be surveyed on Saturday, he said.
The rain has been fairly consistent, and due to drought conditions and low river levels there have not been any reports of flash flooding or river flooding so far in the area, he said.
Related: One woman's mission to help Isaac's victims
Related: Isaac pushes gas prices still higher for holiday weekend
The slow-moving tropical depression dropped up to 8.5 inches of rain in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where there were several flash flood watches and warnings on Friday. Many more Arkansas cities reported rain totaling 5 inches or more.
Eric Gay / AP
Communities damaged and flooded by Isaac get food aid and a visit from a presidential nominee as they start to mop up.
The system was expected to gradually turn more east from the Mississippi River valley into the Ohio River valley by Saturday night, bringing heavy rain into the central Appalachians by Monday and Tuesday.
Missouri and Illinois were both expected to see steady rain into Sunday, forecasters said.
State emergency agencies, city and county leaders and utility crews have been preparing for the deluge. In Indianapolis, a line of about 100 cars snaked from a Department of Public Works lot where free sandbags were being distributed Friday. Residents could pick up bags filled with 30 to 50 pounds of sand.
Jenny Bland, 50, of Indianapolis, waited in line more than 90 minutes so she could pick up bags for her family and elderly neighbors.
"People are taking this very seriously," Bland said.
As President Obama stumped in Iowa ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Mitt Romney beats his campaign opponent to New Orleans to assess hurricane damage. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.
Fears were well-founded in Arkansas, where some areas have had more than 6 inches of rain since Thursday, and thousands lost power. Tornado warnings were issued for several counties, but no touchdowns were confirmed late Friday and there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Brian Smith, senior forecaster for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said remnants of the hurricane were still affecting central and northeast Arkansas late Friday. Showers and thunderstorms were possible in the northern half of the state Saturday, he said.
NBC's Brian Williams speaks with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.
At least four deaths were attributed to Isaac in the Gulf Coast. Residents were cleaning up on Friday, looking for electricity to be restored slowly and energy companies were getting ready to resume operating offshore rigs.
Isaac was the first hurricane to strike the United States this year and hit New Orleans almost exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, causing an estimated 1,800 deaths.
Isaac caused widespread flooding and property damage in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. More than 500,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity across Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas on Friday afternoon.
The system lingered over New Orleans for the better part of two days, providing a first and successful test of the city's new $14.5 billion flood-control system assembled after Katrina. Areas outside those flood protections fared worse.
At least one levee was overtopped southwest of New Orleans, leaving some homes under 12 feet of water. New Orleans was struck by 20 inches of rain, many other locations in Louisiana and Mississippi logged more than 10 inches of rain.
A man, forced to abandon his sailboat during Tropical Storm Isaac, is now trying to find the vessel. WPMI's Darwin Singleton reports.
NBC News staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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It is now raining in central Illinois. Looks like it has been for several hours. Started lightly last night.
I hope that the rain will help with the drought situation so there will be better growing conditions next spring, and better shipping conditions on this Mississippi.
to dreams of my father. You know the picture you have. Look at past known pictures of Barack Obama and match them up. Why do you guys photoshop hateful messages? Look at Obamas hands. Whose hands did you really use? How did you distort his face to look like you wanted. I saw a faux video of Mrs. Obama with her head screwed on crooked and in an entirely unbelievable situation damning our flag. Why must you spread hatred like that using technology sort of since you haven't quite mastered the technique. Why don't you start doing what is right? I said what is right. Because God is gonna getcha if you don't. And the true intelligent citizens in the US will be able to decipher which are hateful madeup propaganda bunches of crap. If the others believe it they lean towards hate anyway don't they? And ask yourself this. If I can't win doing what is right what makes doing what I know is wrong and hateful going to help me win. Because in the long run I will just be spreadingand adding hate, lies and vileness to our country. And I still aint gonna win. That is the real funny/sad part. Obama 2012 because he deserves it and our country is much better place because of him. And remember "Made in America" is the order of the day.
And I said Made in America not made up in America.
Lovely rain is falling here near St. Louis. It has been a perfect rain, not running off but soaking in. Hooray!
Another story of a little too much, a little too late. No moderation in anything anymore. It's either absolutely nothing at all or either way too much. Not enough is always as bad as way too much in anything. Seems to be the norm for everything nowadays.
Midnight,
I agree. Including the "Amateur in The White House"!
So, midnight and bernice, I guess your solution to that is, put another amateur in the White House, right? All candidates and eventual winners are amateurs, none have ever been there before or will be back after their terms. Oh, I'm sorry, did I go too fast? I tried to keep my wording simple so you could "get it". But, you two go back to your handholding.
If you're going to keep your wording 'simple', hand holding is words. genius.
Yeah genius, hand holding is TWO words, and another thing, I didn't say a damn thing about politics, YOU DID! I was referring to EVERYTHING in general.
"another amature"?..., so you do recognize Billy Boy that President Obama's biggest challenge before he stepped into the White House was setting up a Block Party.
Obama didn't do enough.
great,
WRONG........He caused it!!!!
Maybe he should used his great big magic umbrella to stop the rain from the hurricane that he caused. Hahahahaha....
Obama doesnt like black people!
That's what you're supposed to say about the president whenever there's a hurricane.
dreamer..., you are obviously delusional.
Now, Now, Boys, I'm white and I guarentee you there are a whole lot of white people that I would like to see gone. The ones doing real damage and have intentions of doing more. You don't see their faces as they are not exactly IN Politics. If your Generation doesn't get it's act togather and smarten up real fast and get your Priorities lined up, you'll be wishing for the good old days of picking on Obama. That Yaucht that came to Florida from the Ceymans was just full of Romneys Croonies waiting to pick your Carcus to the Bones.
A boat doesn't do much good if your pulling it through the water, Get in it!
I am sad for the people in Louisiana and other areas on the coast, but at least the storm will have done some good for the farmers and others hard hit by the drought in the midwest.
It feels great to get wet weather, when you have been baking in the sun for months. What a relief for those in Missouri.
It's been raining steadily here in Illinois for most of the day. Not storms, just constant steady soaking rain. I can't even tell you how nice it feels after this summer of heat and sun and no relief. It's wonderful to be "out of the oven" for awhile!
It took a real leader like Mr Romney to prompt the lazy campaigner/complainer in chief to show up. For sure the south needs empathy and help and leaders to console and reassure.
Soon, new real caring people will be in charge and ready to help and this country can get back to bickering about regular stuff like too many cops and telling bad lawyer jokes.
Romney showing up before the President is a disprect to protocal. Like everything he does, total disprect to people in general. And while the storm is still raging and the waters getting deeper, how is any damage going to be seen. The flooding you can see, after the waters subside can you do real Damage Surveying. Only and idiot would think anything different or try to make something different out of it.
This is a good thing, right?
The President is obviously a racist and wants these citizens to suffer; isn't that what the libbies said about President Bush?
What's with this Racist @!$%#? Jerk! Republican! Quit pretending to be a Democrat.
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
There is hope and there will be change. You may want to look elsewhere, as it may appear with the elections. But,
don't be misled by that.