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Title: Isaac Drenches Louisiana, Moves North From Gulf Coast
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012- ... ds-as-isaac-swamps-levees.html
Published: Aug 30, 2012
Author: By Bradley Olson, Duane D. Stanford and
Post Date: 2012-08-30 11:38:09 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 2232
Comments: 2
Heavy rain and flooding spread inland from Tropical Storm Isaac as rising water forced evacuations in coastal areas of southeast Louisiana. While reinforced levees surrounding New Orleans forestalled a recurrence of Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 disaster, Isaac’s slow pace brought prolonged rain and storm surges. At 8 a.m. New York time, Isaac was 125 miles (201 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, which made landfall as a hurricane on Aug. 28, was moving northwest at 8 miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. “Even though Isaac is no longer a hurricane, life- threatening hazards from storm surge, inland flooding and tornadoes are still occurring,” the Hurricane Center said in an advisory today. The storm is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression by tonight, and it will move to Arkansas tomorrow and southern Missouri tomorrow night with rainfall up to 25 inches in some places, the center said. In St. Tammany Parish, north of New Orleans on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, an undetermined number of people were being rescued from flooded homes today, said Suzanne Parsons Stymiest, a parish spokeswoman, in an interview. Boat Rescues In Plaquemines Parish, a region of 25,000 people southeast of New Orleans that ushers the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, dozens of people were rescued by boat after water overtopped a levee and flooded their houses. A mandatory evacuation was ordered on the parish’s west bank south of Belle Chasse, where an estimated 3,000 people had remained, and engineers planned to breach a second levee to relieve the flooding. More than 708,000 homes and businesses were without power along the U.S. Gulf Coast as of 9 a.m. New York time, according to utility websites. Entergy Corp. (ETR), the biggest utility owner in Louisiana, reported about 697,000 customers without power, according to the company’s website. Insured losses from the storm may reach $500 million to $1.5 billion before Isaac dissipates, according to Eqecat Inc., a catastrophe risk modeling company. In 2008, Hurricane Gustav, a more powerful system, caused about $2 billion in damage, the company said. Rain Continues Rain continued to fall over downtown New Orleans today. White and orange sandbags in front of the Royal Sonesta Hotel weren’t needed as the surrounding levees kept water out of the city. Michael Brown walked Bourbon Street in search of fresh coffee. He said he stayed in the city during the storm and wasn’t ordered to evacuate. Brown, 40, didn’t have water to contend with, just high winds that bent back trees. “Five minutes of 80 mile per hour wind, that’ll scare the heck outta you,” he said. New Orleans’s rebuilt storm protection -- which strengthened and improved levees, floodwalls, pump stations and surge barriers -- was “performing as designed,” said Rachel Rodi, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in an e-mail today. The Plaquemines levee wasn’t part of the rebuilt levee system, Rodi said. More than 3,000 people were evacuated in St. John Parish, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where flooding from Lake Ponchartrain and other bodies of water began to overtake homes yesterday, Christina Stephens, a state spokeswoman, said in an interview today.
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#1. To: Brian S, *The Two Parties ARE the Same* (#0)
(Edited)
8,000 Jindali gun confiscating NG troops, + 35,000 Obama FEMA internment specialists, + 100 aircraft are poised to strike. "We're from the government, and we're here to help"! http://www.infowars.com/louisiana-coast-under-curfew-as-issac-makes-landfall/
We are anxiously awaiting Issac's rain up here. Supposed to show up late Sunday/Monday.
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Despite the fact Isaac is a category one hurricane and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the city had “dodged a bullet,” the Army National Guard has dispatched thousands of troops in Louisiana.
#2. To: hondo68 (#1)
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