Hurricane Isaac hit Louisiana hard with 80mph winds and left at least 250,000 people without power. It’s now set to hit New Orleans, and luckily the majority of the city left in preparation. Click below for more details.
Authorities say storm surge driven by Hurricane Isaac has overtopped a levee in a thinly populated part of Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans.
Parish spokesperson 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 that water flows over the top, it eventually will eat out portions of that levee, which then it washes away,” Billy Nungesser, the parish’s president, told CNN.
The other possibility is that the levee will “fill up,” he added.
“One or the other will happen. Either way that area’s going to be totally inundated with water,” Nungesser said.
Nungesser told CNN he’s received reports of 10 to 12 feet of water in some homes.
Isaac is a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph.
The center of the storm was about 50 miles south-southwest of New Orleans at 6:00 a.m. local time Wednesday, moving northwest at 6 mph according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane warnings were in effect from Morgan City eastward to the Alabama-Mississippi border, including New Orleans and the Lake Pontchartrain area.
At least 250,000 people in southeast Louisiana were without power as of Tuesday night, according to the Times-Picayune.
They will likely have to go without electricity until winds drop below 30-35 mph and utility crews can work safely – which is not expected to be until Thursday at the earliest.
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, according to the Associated Press, though he said one unoccupied structure had collapsed and there was a fire in a home without power that was caused by a candle.
Though Isaac wasn’t packing Katrina’s punch, evacuations were mandatory in about a half-dozen parishes.
In a statement from the White House, President Obama, urged residents to heed evacuation orders.
“We are dealing with a big storm,†he said. “There could be significant flooding and other damage … Now is not the time to tempt fate. You need to take this seriously.â€
