Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET -- The chance that a remnant of Hurricane Isaac will give birth to a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico was greatly reduced overnight by the National Hurricane Center. It's now at 20 percent, down from 40 percent Thursday afternoon.

"Conditions are expected to become less favorable for development," it said in a Friday morning advisory.

Already producing rain, the system is southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

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A hurricane that deteriorates only to have a remnant redevelop into a tropical storm is not unheard of -- Ivan in 2004 was one case -- but it is unusual, Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman reported Thursday.

"A funny thing happened to this remnant," he wrote in describing what's brewing. "Basically, the polar jet stream was never able to catch up" and whisk it away northward along with the rest of Isaac.

If a tropical storm does form it will not keep the name Isaac and instead would be Nadine, the next name on the official list.

That's because the remnant in the gulf is only a small piece of the former hurricane. When a weakened Ivan regenerated into a tropical storm the name was kept because most of Ivan was still intact.

Isaac's daughter would be only the second time on record where a system regenerated along with a new name.

"This is the only example that we can find in the modern era where the partial remains of a system went on to regenerate and, so, get a different designation," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Todd Kimberlain told the Associated Press. 

The only other time? In 2005, a remnant from a tropical depression that dissipated near Puerto Rico eventually became part of a new depression -- which became the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina. 

This time, however, any new storm's impact will likely be minimal, Erdman stated.

Most of the rain could stay over the Gulf of Mexico "until it's kicked east or northeastward ... this weekend," he wrote. "Good news for those recovering from Isaac's surge and rainfall flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi."

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As Isaac lingered outside her door, Connie Uddo was busy Wednesday calling elderly friends in her neighborhood to make sure they were holding up. She, like the majority of New Orleans residents, had no power.

“It’s just a tedious, long, arduous storm,” she said.

Storms are a big part of life in New Orleans. They always have been. There are records of hurricanes hitting the Crescent City as far back as the 1700s.

But things changed when Hurricane Katrina struck seven years ago — especially for Uddo.

“Our neighborhood, it was condemned, uninhabitable and unsafe. You had to have a pass to get in,” she said.

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That is something she never wants to live through again — she doesn’t think she could handle it. As Isaac was bearing down, she felt a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety.

“The wind had me a little freaked out at points last night because our house was shaking a lot and the windows were rattling,” she said.

Related: Isaac loses steam, but brings flooding, power outages
Related: 'They were screaming away': Louisiana man recounts rescue 

Uddo and her kids had evacuated just before Katrina hit. In October of 2005, when she returned to her 90-year-old wood and plaster home, she found a mold-infested mess. The first floor, which they had renovated as rental units, had been under eight feet of water, which took a month to drain out. 

“It was horrific. It was shocking. It was something that I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime ... everything was gray.," she said. "It literally looked like a nuclear disaster. There were no birds, insects, squirrels. The silence was just deafening.”

Uddo thought about leaving for good. She cried — a lot.

“It wasn’t just the physical loss,” she said. “It was the emotional loss of your community, your social network, your children’s friends.”

But Uddo decided to move back and rebuild. In January 2006, her family was the first of 10 families in her neighborhood to have electricity.

Lakeview, she said, was a “green dot” on a city planning map — a place that some planners thought would become nothing but green space with no residential homes. 

She wouldn't hear of it. "We’re a hundred-year-old neighborhood. You don’t tell a hundred-year-old neighborhood that."

So she rebuilt, and she convinced others to do the same. Uddo would walk around the neighborhood asking plumbers, roofers, builders and other tradespeople for their phone numbers. Since phone books no longer worked, she compiled a list. She counseled her neighbors at her dining room table. She recruited teen-aged volunteers to come to the neighborhood and clean up the front yards so that returning residents wouldn't be as shocked as she had been when she first drove in.

Eventually, Uddo opened St. Paul’s Homecoming Center, which still operates and helps residents who fled Katrina. The center has coordinated more than 50,000 volunteers.

As soon as Isaac lets up enough, probably on Thursday, Uddo plans to go back to the Center and start the cleanup. So far, she hasn’t seen any major flooding in her neighborhood. On a walk earlier Wednesday she checked on the trees she recently planted. They’re tattered, but still standing. The elderly neighbors she called are doing all right too. And for that, she’s thankful.

“Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be back in action,” she said.

Wednesday was spent napping, having tea, catching up on laundry and house chores.

“I really feel blessed. I don’t want to jinx it. It’s not over. But it could’ve been worse.  So many things could’ve happened.”

Uddo thinks a storm like Isaac solidifies her community.

“Once again we’re a stronger, more unified community because of it. And that’s the silver lining. You come out stronger."

One of the biggest lessons of Katrina, Uddo said, is that neighbors have to look out for each other. Before Katrina, they never would have coordinated before a storm. On Tuesday night, before the power went out, Uddo and her husband went up the block for a neighborhood gathering. They made plans together about what they would do if the water rose on their streets.

“At the end of the day, all we have is each other,” she said.

To contact Uddo's organization, St. Paul's Homecoming Center, please visit their website, or call: 504-644-4125.

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Updated at 5:06 a.m. ET Wednesday: The center of Hurricane Isaac made its second landfall in southeastern Louisiana early Wednesday, officials said.

The storm hit just west of Port Fourchon, La., with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph at around 2:15 a.m. local time (3:15 a.m. ET), according to aircraft and radar data from the National Hurricane Center.

Emergency management officials in Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, reported overtopping on a levee from Braithwaite to White Ditch early on Wednesday. "This will result in significant deep flooding in this area," the National Weather Service said.

Earlier, Isaac produced a dangerous storm surge along the northern Gulf coast after wobbling back out to sea two hours after its initial landfall on Tuesday night. Flooding from rainfall was expected, the center said.

The storm surge combined with a high tide will cause normally dry areas near the Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana coast to be flooded by peaks of 6 to 12 feet, the center said. Alabama could see up to 8 feet; the Florida panhandle, 6 feet.

A 10-foot surge was reported at Shell Beach, La., the center said.

---

By 3 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), the storm was 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, although winds and rain lashed the city that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago. The storm was moving northwest at 8 mph. Winds were gusting at up to 78 mph.

 

Forecasters predicted the storm would arrive in New Orleans early Wednesday and then head for Baton Rouge.

While not packing nearly the power of Katrina -- which was a Category 3 storm when it slammed New Orleans on August 29, 2005 -- Category 1 Isaac was nevertheless a powerful reminder of New Orleans' vulnerability.

'Really bad weather'
The hurricane will be the first test for multibillion-dollar flood defenses built after levees failed under Katrina's storm surge and left large parts of New Orleans under water.

The hurricane center continued to warn that flooding from rainfall and storm surge remains the storm’s greatest threat. The slow-moving storm is expected to dump up to 20 inches of rain in some spots over two days.

Hurricane Isaac initially made landfall at 8 p.m. Tuesday in southeastern Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane.

"It's going to be a long period of really bad weather" for the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts as well as areas inland, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said. Even before landfall, some flooded roads and power outages were reported in those states.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said he expects his city "will get the brunt of it." Nola.com reported.  Entergy New Orleans, the power company that supplies the region, reported outages for more than 300,000 customers.

"We think that we're well prepared," Landrieu said at a briefing, while emphasizing that much depends on how well residents heed warnings to hunker down.

No mandatory evacuations were ordered inside New Orleans, which sits behind levees and pumps reinforced after Hurricane Katrina.

The sewer system in one lakefront community, Northshore Beach, in St. Tammany Parish had to be shut down because floodwaters rose over sewage lift stations, emergency management officials said.

Related: Follow Isaac's path with our storm tracker
Related: Images, tweets about Isaac

While Isaac is well below the intensity of Katrina, its vast size and slow track have forecasters predicting widespread flooding.

Hundreds of Army National Guard troops took up positions around New Orleans to ward off any threat of looting.

One man was arrested in Lafourche Parish on Tuesday night after reports he broke into a vehicle and then attempted to break into a house, WDSU reported.

Sheriff Craig Webre described the alleged act as "a heinous example of someone who truly has no regard for the rights of law-abiding citizens."

The guard's arrival came as bands of driving rain and stiff winds began battering the city and other parts of the coast. Some 10,000 homes and businesses had lost power in southern Louisiana by late afternoon, as did 6,000 customers in Mobile, Ala.

President Barack Obama added his voice to those of local officials urging residents to hunker down or evacuate if told to do so. "Now's not the time to tempt fate," he said in brief comments Tuesday morning. "Listen to your local officials and follow their directions, including if they tell you to evacuate."

"The inland flooding from the heavy rainfall could extend hundreds of miles from the coast," Knabb said.

Isaac is wide as storms go, with tropical storm-force winds stretching 185 miles from its center.

By Tuesday afternoon, some beach areas were seeing water lapping onto streets.

Rainfall of 7 to 14 inches across the coast as well as inland is likely, and a few places could even see 20 inches, Knabb said.

Residents should expect "a lot of hazards to contend with, even isolated tornadoes" into Wednesday, Knabb said.

Isaac was expected to arrive in New Orleans seven years to the day Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing billions of dollars of damage. Levees built or repaired after Katrina are designed to withstand far more than that 12-foot surge, in some cases storm surges as high as 26 feet.

Mandatory evacuations were issued Monday for unprotected, low-lying areas outside New Orleans, as well as low-lying areas in Mississippi.

Residents in coastal communities from Louisiana to Mississippi stocked up on food and water and tried to secure their homes, cars and boats. 

"Right now we’re starting to experience some flooding of low-lying areas along the beachfront," Brian Adam, emergency management director in Mississippi's Hancock County, told NBC News. "We’ve opened two shelters and have about 185 people there."

In Bay St. Louis, Miss., residents in low-lying areas evacuated while those on high ground were keeping an eye on Isaac, resident Ellis Anderson told NBC News.

From weather.com: Live updates and analysis

"It's not expected to be another Katrina," she said. "But everybody is watching it very seriously" because of the potential path that could push water into the area hard hit by Katrina and Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Gustav "went to the west of New Orleans," she recalled, pushing "all that water into that cup that is the Gulf Coast of Mississippi."

In New Orleans, a bumper-to-bumper stream of vehicles left the city Monday on a highway toward Baton Rouge in search of higher ground. Others prepared or were forced to ride the storm out.

Related: America's deadliest hurricanes
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Related: Drought-hit states welcome Isaac's rain

Along Canal Street in New Orleans' historic French Quarter, crews boarded up the windows of some stores and businesses. 

Offshore in the Gulf, regulators said that 93 percent of daily oil and 67 percent of daily natural gas production in U.S.-regulated areas have been shut down by the hurricane.

Isaac has killed at least 22 people and caused significant flooding and damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before skirting the southern tip of Florida on Sunday.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Kirk formed about 1,230 miles northeast of of the Northern Leeward Islands and was moving west about 12 mph, the hurricane center reported. There was no immediate threat to land.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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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.

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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."

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.

"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.

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.

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. 

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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Updated at 11:27 p.m. ET: As Isaac lashed south Florida on Sunday, the tropical storm threatened to make landfall later this week as a hurricane in New Orleans on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s near destruction of that historic city.

Although the worst seems to have passed in Florida – a relief to Republicans planning their national convention – officials in Key West ordered visitors and residents to remain indoors as the storm moved through the island chain.

“You’ve chosen to remain in the Keys during this storm and the only safe place for you to be is indoors,” said Monroe County Emergency Management Director Irene Toner. “Stay off roads and don’t go outside.”

300-mile stretch of Gulf Coast on alert after 'huge storm' Isaac drenches Florida

As of 11 p.m. ET, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour, was about 75 miles west, southwest of Key West, moving west, northwest at 14 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. said.

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Isaac caused weekend havoc in Cuba, where it downed trees and power lines. Before that, Isaac was blamed for seven deaths in Haiti.

Forecasters warned that Isaac could be upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane – capable of sustained winds of 96-100 mph – as it hits the northern Gulf Coast somewhere between Florida and Louisiana later this week.

The governors of Mississippi and Louisiana declared a state of emergency as officials prepared for Isaac.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal urged residents in low-lying areas of several southeastern parishes to voluntarily leave ahead of the storm. He said mandatory evacuations would likely be ordered on Monday. The governor also activated 4,000 National Guard troops and informed other states that Louisiana might need assistance if hit by Isaac.

"We’re all going to err on the side of being overprepared," Jindal said. He added that he may skip his speaking engagement at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., this week if his state is still threatened by the storm.

In the city of New Orleans, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, Mayor Mitch Landrieu also declared a state of emergency. "I'll remind everybody that we thought Katrina would be a wind and rain event," Landrieu said.

"Residents should be frightened because we have issued a State of Emergency," Mississippi Gov. Bryant said. "However, I urge individuals and families to finalize their personal preparedness efforts. Review your family communication plan, make sure your emergency supply kit is fully stocked and know where you will go if you need to evacuate."

The National Hurricane Center on Sunday evening discontinued a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys and west coast of Florida, but issued a hurricane warning hurricane for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from the New Orleans area to the Florida Panhandle.

In South Florida, three people were killed in two separate crashes due to wet roads, reported NBC News affiliate NBCMiami.com. The first crash involved a head-on collision, which killed both drivers, and in the second, the car plunged into a canal and the driver drowned, officials said.

Some minor flooding and power outages were reported in the Florida Keys but with the worst seemingly over, South Florida officials were relieved as Isaac shifted west. "We prepared for the worst and for us it's a relief," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez  said, according to NBCMiami.com.

Related: Follow Isaac's path with our storm tracker
Related: Live updates and analysis from weather.com

Dr. Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, said forecast models “can drive us nuts sometimes” but they play an important role for guidance.

“It’s still very uncertain where the center of Isaac will come ashore in its final landfall in the northern Gulf,” Knabb told the Weather Channel on Sunday, “and that can make all the difference as to who gets the strongest winds, who gets the strongest storm surge.

“Gradually, we’re seeing (Isaac’s) inner core develop. We’re certain it’s going to be a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico,” Knabb said.

Cancellations and shutdowns
The Republican Party said it would recess its national convention in Tampa for a day out of safety concerns as the storm bore down. Republicans, who will formally nominate Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate for the November election, will briefly convene their four-day meeting on Monday, then recess until Tuesday. 

“When she storm passes and the sun comes out it’s going to be great to be in Tampa,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said.

Related: Republicans effectively cancel first day of convention 

Gulf of Mexico oil operators braced for the first hurricane to affect the U.S. oil patch in 2012. Officials said the storm could shut down more than half of U.S. offshore oil output. Isaac's more westerly expected track brings it closer to 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 output

Airlines are preparing for Isaac’s impact on Florida by waiving fees for changes and refunds for flights into and out of south Florida. Additionally, airlines on Sunday canceled most of south Florida operations.

Key West airports were closing Sunday night and most operations in and out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale were canceled until noon Monday, according to FlightAware.com. Airlines are not expecting long-term impact in Florida from the storm and should be operating normally by late Monday once airplanes, crew and staff are back in position. 

More than 740 flights to, from and within the United States were canceled Sunday in preparation for Isaac, with the bulk of the cancellations at Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Meanwhile, the Sunday night performance of classic rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd at Tampa’s American Action Network Pavilion at Liberty Plaza was canceled over safety concerns.

Old hat for locals
Key West locals followed time-worn storm preparedness rituals while awaiting the storm.

On Saturday, a steady line of cars moved north along the Overseas Highway, the only road linking the Florida Keys. Residents boarded up windows, laid down sandbags and shuttered businesses ahead of the approaching storm. Even Duval Street, Key West's storied main drag, was subdued for a weekend, though not enough to stop music from playing or drinks from being poured.

"We'll just catch every place that's open," said Ted Lamarche, a 48-year-old pizzeria owner visiting Key West to celebrate his anniversary with his wife, Deanna. They walked along on Duval Street, where a smattering of people still wandered even as many storefronts were boarded up and tourists sported ponchos and yellow slickers.

"Category None!" one man shouted in a show of optimism.

Related: Weather Channel slideshow: The Wrath of Isaac

The Keys were bracing for storm surges of up to four feet, strong winds and the possibility of tornadoes. The island chain's two airports closed Saturday night, and volunteers and some residents began filing into shelters.

"This is a huge inconvenience," said Dale Shelton, a 57-year-old retiree in Key West who was staying in a shelter.

The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC's Isolde Raftery contributed to this report.

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Updated at 6 p.m. ET: Tropical Storm Isaac was hugging the northern coastline of eastern Cuba on Saturday after claiming at least four lives in Haiti. Isaac should become a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday just as it nears the Florida Keys, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and then grow into an even stronger Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds.

Isaac "could be significantly stronger than currently forecast" once it enters the Gulf of Mexico, the center said in an advisory.

It will first sweep past southwest Florida and the Florida Keys, where "hurricane conditions are expected ... Sunday," it said in a separate update.

---

Republicans effectively cancel first day of convention

Isaac is a massive storm, with tropical storm-force winds extending 230 miles from the center. Key West International Airport was halting all flights at 7 p.m. Saturday until the storm had passed.

In Haiti, a woman and a child in the town of Souvenance were killed in the storm, a local official reported. A woman in the southern coastal city of Jacmel was crushed to death when a tree fell on her house, government officials said.

In the capital Port-au-Prince -- where some 350,000 people are still living in tents or shelters after the 2010 Haiti earthquake -- a girl, 10, was killed when a wall fell on her.

Power outages and flooding were reported as Isaac moved across the hilly and severely deforested Caribbean country.

"There's a lot of rain, a lot of wind," said Magdala Jean-Baptiste, who huddled with her frightened children in their home in the southern coastal city of Jacmel. "We haven't had any power since the storm started yesterday. We passed the night with no sleep." 

In neighboring Dominican Republic, Isaac felled power and phone lines and left at least a dozen towns cut off by flood waters. The most severe damage was reported along the south coast, including the capital Santo Domingo, where more than half the city was without power.

Cuba prepared by closing beaches and evacuating tourists in vulnerable areas, NBC's Mary Murray and The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reported from Havana. Flights across Cuba were also suspended. 

In Baracoa, a city on Cuba's eastern side, high seas began topping the seawall Friday night, Radio Baracoa reported. 

Now with 60-mph winds, Isaac should exit Cuba on Sunday and then move south of the Florida Keys and into the Gulf.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Saturday declared a state of emergency to make sure local and state agencies would be ready. Republicans effectively canceled the first day of their national convention in Tampa, on Florida's central Gulf Coast, deciding to gavel it open on Monday, then immediately recess to some time on Tuesday.

Gulf of Mexico operators began shutting down offshore oil and gas rigs on Friday ahead of the storm. 

Follow Isaac's path with our storm tracker
Live updates and analysis from weather.com

Tampa's weather forecast includes rain and high winds Sunday night and into Monday, The Weather Channel reported. The winds could gust up to 60 mph.

Monday and Tuesday include a risk of tornadoes across south Florida. 

Officials were handing out sandbags to residents in the Tampa area, which often floods when heavy rainstorms hit. Sandbags also were being handed out in Homestead, 20 years after Hurricane Andrew devastated the community there. Otherwise, however, convention preparations were moving ahead as usual.

Isaac's exact path is still unclear, but the hurricane center said models suggest it will make landfall somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and New Orleans on Tuesday night.

The storm's anticipated path did shift closer to the Keys than previously forecast and emergency managers urged tourists to leave the islands if they could do so safely. A single road links the chain of islands to the Florida Peninsula. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A system growing in the Atlantic should become a tropical storm by Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned Wednesday.

As a result, tropical storm watches were issued for Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

Maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph and the storm was moving west-northwest at 18 mph.

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"The center of the tropical cyclone should be near the Windward Islands on Friday," the service said in an advisory.

The next named Atlantic storm will be Ernesto.

The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season has gotten off to a slow start, with the last named storm being Debby, which drenched parts of Florida in June and claimed eight lives.

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Updated at 11:43 p.m. ET -- Tropical Storm Debby whipped Florida with bands of drenching rain Monday while its center was nearly stationary in the Gulf of Mexico. Its slow progress meant the most pressing threat from the storm was flooding, not wind.

Florida governor Rick Scott declared a statewide emergency, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for most of the state's Gulf Coast, as the storm parked offshore.

A tropical storm warning for the coast of Alabama was discontinued early Monday. Yet even with the storm's center far from land, it lashed Florida with heavy rains and spawned isolated tornadoes that killed at least one person. Another person was missing in rough surf off Alabama.

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Residents in several counties near the crook of Florida's elbow were urged to leave low-lying neighborhoods because of the threat of flooding.

Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are also evacuating more than 30 percent of production platforms and rigs that are in the path of Debby. The storm is moving slowly, allowing its clouds more time to unload rain.

The Coast Guard rescued a family Sunday, who were stranded on a small island on the northwestern Florida Gulf coast due to inclement weather caused by the storm.

Officials at the Coast Guard watch center in Mobile, Ala., received a call around 12:30 p.m. from a man reporting his family of five adults, four children and two dogs were stranded in a vacation house on Dog Island, south of Carrabelle, Fla.

Water was reportedly surrounding the house, and there was no way for them to evacuate to higher ground. The ship that brought them to the island would not return for them due to rough conditions.

Rescue crews from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center deployed a helicopter to the family’s location. The crew hoisted and transported the family, including the dogs, to Carrabelle Airport. No injuries or medical concerns were reported. 

'Heavy rain'
High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast. In several locations, homes and businesses were damaged by high winds authorities believe were from tornadoes.

Practically parked off Florida's Gulf Coast since the weekend, Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and has already led to flooding.

Weather.com severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes warned that Debby could spawn isolated tornadoes in Florida through Monday.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Florida Gulf Coast from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to Englewood, south of Sarasota.  "Storm surge flooding is also a significant threat along the Florida Panhandle coast and the western coast of Florida since Debby's circulation is embedded in a rather large wind field," Weather.com reported.

Forecasters said late Monday that the storm was still in the Gulf of Mexico, 35 miles south of Apalachicola, with sustained winds around 45 mph. It was moving northeast at 2 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The forecast map indicated the storm could inch forward through the week, eventually coming ashore over the Panhandle. However, a storm's path is difficult to discern days in advance.

Underscoring the unpredictable nature of tropical storms, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning Sunday afternoon for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby wasn't likely to turn west. At one point, forecasters expected the storm to come ashore in that state.

"There are always going to be errors in making predictions. There is never going to be a perfect forecast," said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that several tornadoes moved through the area southeast of Tampa, damaging homes.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nell Hays said a woman was found dead in a house in Venus that was destroyed in the storm. A child found in the same house was taken to the hospital. No further information was available on the child's condition or either person's age.

Marina's roof torn off
Authorities urged residents to leave low-lying neighborhoods in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties because of flooding. Shelters were open in the area.

Wind tore the roof off a marina in St. Pete Beach, and a pier was heavily damaged, said Tom Iovino, a Pinellas County government spokesman. He said no injuries were reported.

In Orange Beach, Ala., a 32-year-old man disappeared Sunday in rough surf kicked up by the storm, a Coast Guard official said. Further information wasn't immediately available.

As of Sunday, 23 percent of oil and gas production in the region had been suspended, according to a government hurricane response team. Employees have been evacuated from 13 drilling rigs and 61 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm was not expected to result in higher oil and gas prices.

"It's largely a non-event for oil," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 12:42 a.m. ET: Alberto, the first named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, weakened to a tropical depression Monday night as it continued moving eastward Monday night off the coast of Florida.

As of 11 p.m. ET, Alberto was located about 245 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C. It was moving at 13 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

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There were no watches or warnings anywhere along the East Coast of the United States.

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Alberto is the earliest-forming tropical storm in the Atlantic since Ana in 2003. 

It also makes this the first year in which a tropical storm has formed before the start of the hurricane season in either the Atlantic or Pacific basins.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, a tropical depression that has formed south of Mexico was expected to strengthen. The depression's maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph, but it was expected to reach tropical storm strength -- maximum sustained winds between 39 mph and 74 mph -- later in the day. It was centered about 535 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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