(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - Isaac hovered over Louisiana for a third day
Thursday, shedding more than a foot of additional rain that forced authorities
to hurriedly evacuate areas ahead of the storm and rescue hundreds of people
who could not escape as the rapidly rising waters swallowed entire
neighborhoods.
The huge spiral weather system
weakened to a tropical depression as it crawled inland, but it caught many
places off guard by following a meandering, unpredictable path. The storm's
excruciatingly slow movement meant that Isaac practically parked over low-lying
towns and threw off great sheets of water for hours.
As of 4 p.m. CDT, Isaac was
moving at north-northwest 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph,
according to NOAA.
"I was blindsided. Nobody
expected this," said Richard Musatchia, who fled his water-filled home in
LaPlace, northwest of New Orleans.
Inside the fortified levees
that protected New Orleans, bursts of sunshine streamed through the thick
clouds, and life began to return to normal. But beyond the city, people got
their first good look at Isaac's damage: Hundreds of homes were underwater.
Half the state was without power at the one point. Thousands were staying at
shelters.
There have been reported
fatalities in Plaquemines Parish. CBS News reported Thursday that a chief
investigator from the parish coroner's office confirmed that two bodies -- a
man and woman believed to be in their 40s -- were found in a home in Braithwaite,
Louisiana.
And the damage may not be
done. Even more rain was expected in Louisiana before the storm finally drifts
into Arkansas and Missouri.
Isaac dumped as much as 16
inches in some areas, and about 500 people had to be rescued by boat or
high-water vehicles. At least two deaths were reported.
Five feet of water poured into
Musatchia's home before a neighbor passed by with a boat and evacuated him and
his 6-year-old boxer, Renny.
He piled two suitcases, a
backpack and a few smaller bags onto the boat and said that was all he had
left. He abandoned a brand-new Cadillac and a Harley-Davidson.
"People have their
generators, because they thought the power would go out, but no one
expected" so much water, Musatchia said.
Other evacuees were picked up
by National Guard vehicles, school buses and pickup trucks.
Daphine and David Newman fled
their newly decorated home with two trash bags of clothing. They have lived in
their subdivision since 1992 and never had water in their home from previous
storms, not even Hurricane Katrina.
The comparison was common
since Isaac hit on the seventh anniversary of the devastating 2005 storm,
though the differences were stark.
Katrina was more powerful,
coming ashore as a Category 3 storm. Isaac was a Category 1 at its peak.
Katrina barreled into the state and quickly moved through. Isaac creeped across
the landscape at less than 10 mph and wobbled constantly.
David Newman was frustrated
that the government spent billions of dollars reinforcing New Orleans levees
after Katrina, only to see the water inundating surrounding regions.
"The water's got to go
somewhere," he said. "It's going to find the weakest link."
The sudden call for
evacuations so long after the storm made landfall provoked a debate about
whether anyone was to blame.
Jefferson Parish Council
President Chris Roberts said forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in
Miami needed a new way of measuring the danger that goes beyond wind speed.
"The risk that a public
official has is, people say, `Aw, it's a Category 1 storm, and you guys are out
there calling for mandatory evacuations,"' Roberts said.
Hundreds of people in lower
Jefferson chose to ride out the storm -- and many of them had to be rescued, he
said.
Eric Blake, a specialist at
the hurricane center, said that although Isaac's cone shifted west as it
zigzagged toward the Gulf Coast, forecasters accurately predicted its path,
intensity and rainfall. He did say the storm came ashore somewhat slower than anticipated.
Blake cautioned against using
Katrina as a benchmark for flooding during other storms.
"Every hurricane is
different," Blake said. "If you're trying to use the last hurricane
to gauge your storm surge risk, it's very dangerous."
Along the shores of Lake
Ponchartrain near New Orleans, officials sent scores of buses and dozens of
high-water vehicles to help evacuate about 3,000 people as floodwaters lapped
against houses and stranded cars.
The water rose waist-high in
some neighborhoods, and the Louisiana National Guard worked with sheriff's
deputies to rescue people stuck in their homes.
In LaPlace, a Coast Guard
helicopter plucked a couple and their dogs from a home after storm surge gushed
into their neighborhood and washed many houses away.
"They used a flashlight
inside the house as a signaling device, which made all the difference in
locating them effectively," Lt. Cmdr. Jorge Porto said.
Crews intentionally breached a
levee that was strained by Isaac's floodwaters in southeast Louisiana's Plaquemines
Parish, which is outside the federal levee system. At the same time, water at a
dam farther north in Mississippi was released in an effort to prevent flooding
there.
Since the storm arrived in the
U.S., the first two fatalities were a tow truck driver hit by a tree that fell
on his vehicle in Picayune, Miss., and a man who fell from a tree while helping
friends move a vehicle. Deputies did not know why he climbed the tree.
Although New Orleans' bigger,
stronger levee system easily handled the deluge from Isaac, rural areas beyond
the city's fortifications had few defenses.
Isaac "has reinforced for
us once again just how vulnerable these critical areas are," said
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu. "We must re-engage the Corps of Engineers on
this."
More than 900,000 homes and
businesses around the state -- about 47 percent of all customers -- were
without power Thursday. Utility company Entergy said that included about
157,000 in New Orleans.
New Orleans' biggest problems
seemed to be downed power lines, scattered tree limbs and minor flooding.
In Mississippi, several
coastal communities struggled with all the extra water, including Pascagoula,
where a large portion of the city flooded and water blocked downtown
intersections.
High water also prevented more
than 800 people from returning to their homes in Bay St. Louis, a small town
that lost most of its business district to Katrina's storm surge.
Even though Isaac was weaker,
Mayor Les Fillingame said, "every storm is somebody's Katrina, regardless
of the intensity."
No comments:
Post a Comment