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| Strengthening, Isaac Becomes Hurricane as It Nears Landfall | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| NEW ORLEANS — The huge storm headed for the Gulf Coast was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday as it continued to gain strength, though not as much as had initially been feared. | |
| Hurricane Isaac, with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, is projected to hit somewhere in southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday evening, according to the National Weather Service. | |
| Even before then, the Southern coast — and areas extending inland from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle — is likely to be buffeted by strong winds, heavy rain and flooding. The threat of tornadoes will also increase as the storm approaches. | Even before then, the Southern coast — and areas extending inland from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle — is likely to be buffeted by strong winds, heavy rain and flooding. The threat of tornadoes will also increase as the storm approaches. |
| At a news conference in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, said hurricane-force winds might last 6 to 10 hours, and rains could drop between 10 and 16 inches on some areas of the state. | |
| Mr. Jindal said he had activated 4,158 National Guard troops and that prisoners have been relocated from facilities in coastal parishes, some to state prisons. | |
| The storm had been predicted to strike as a Category 2 hurricane, but its eventual force was revised downward Tuesday morning. It has been fickle and confounded predictions all along. | The storm had been predicted to strike as a Category 2 hurricane, but its eventual force was revised downward Tuesday morning. It has been fickle and confounded predictions all along. |
| On Tuesday afternoon, the storm was moving slowly to the northwest at 10 m.p.h. It is about 75 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 160 miles southeast of New Orleans. | |
| The most serious danger may not be from the wind, according to forecasters, but from the enormous amount of water that the storm will be bringing with it and pushing in front of it. Officials encouraged those in low-lying areas to leave, warning of 12-foot storm surges along a broad area of the coast and days of nonstop rain, in some places possibly adding up to 20 inches of water. | |
| “The slow motion and the large size of this system are the areas of concern,” Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, said in a conference call with reporters. | |
| Dr. Knabb said the heaviest rain bands had come ashore in southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday morning. | |
| During a brief appearance Tuesday morning in Washington, President Obama warned Gulf Coast residents to heed evacuation warnings from local and federal officials. | |
| “Now is not the time to tempt fate, now is not the time to dismiss official warnings,” Mr. Obama said. “You need to take this seriously.” | “Now is not the time to tempt fate, now is not the time to dismiss official warnings,” Mr. Obama said. “You need to take this seriously.” |
| With the memory of the battering that his predecessor took after the Bush administration’s widely disparaged response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mr. Obama seemed to be taking pains to show that his administration is on top of things this time around. Several times during his remarks he specified that he had personally directed various federal agencies to do all they can. | With the memory of the battering that his predecessor took after the Bush administration’s widely disparaged response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mr. Obama seemed to be taking pains to show that his administration is on top of things this time around. Several times during his remarks he specified that he had personally directed various federal agencies to do all they can. |
| On the Gulf Coast, a hurricane warning was in effect for areas east of Morgan City, which sits on the Atchafalaya River in south central Louisiana, and extending into Mississippi. That stretch of coast includes New Orleans. | |
| On Tuesday morning, the sky was cloudy in the city with a slight breeze and a light drizzle. Few people were on the streets, but that may be partly due to the fact the bars were full last night, and people sat out late on their porches anticipating a Tuesday off. | On Tuesday morning, the sky was cloudy in the city with a slight breeze and a light drizzle. Few people were on the streets, but that may be partly due to the fact the bars were full last night, and people sat out late on their porches anticipating a Tuesday off. |
| The city’s airport was closed, bus and streetcar service has been suspended and emergency shelters had been opened. | The city’s airport was closed, bus and streetcar service has been suspended and emergency shelters had been opened. |
| Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in low-lying areas of several Louisiana parishes, but not in New Orleans, although Mitchell J. Landrieu, the city’s mayor, has asked about 900 residents in neighborhoods not protected by levees to temporarily relocate. | Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in low-lying areas of several Louisiana parishes, but not in New Orleans, although Mitchell J. Landrieu, the city’s mayor, has asked about 900 residents in neighborhoods not protected by levees to temporarily relocate. |
| Mr. Landrieu called on residents Tuesday to “hunker down,” saying, “now is the time, in the next 24 to 36 hours, to do that.” | |
| A mandatory evacuation of New Orleans is triggered by a Category 3 hurricane, a status this storm is unlikely to reach. But the time frame for a safe and effective citywide evacuation expired on Monday anyway. | A mandatory evacuation of New Orleans is triggered by a Category 3 hurricane, a status this storm is unlikely to reach. But the time frame for a safe and effective citywide evacuation expired on Monday anyway. |
| So those who remain here, as most have, will be marking the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday not with ribbon cuttings and modest ceremonies as planned, but by hunkering down under heavy rains and winds. | So those who remain here, as most have, will be marking the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday not with ribbon cuttings and modest ceremonies as planned, but by hunkering down under heavy rains and winds. |
| All storms have their own personalities, and this storm promises a very different experience from Hurricane Katrina. While it could possibly hit New Orleans directly — unlike Hurricane Katrina, which landed in Mississippi but sent surge waters against the city’s faulty levees and flood walls — this storm will have to contend with a $14.5 billion flood protection system that has been all but completed by the Army Corps of Engineers. | All storms have their own personalities, and this storm promises a very different experience from Hurricane Katrina. While it could possibly hit New Orleans directly — unlike Hurricane Katrina, which landed in Mississippi but sent surge waters against the city’s faulty levees and flood walls — this storm will have to contend with a $14.5 billion flood protection system that has been all but completed by the Army Corps of Engineers. |
| This system and a rapport between parish, state and federal authorities that is far stronger than the dysfunctional relationship that characterized the response effort to Hurricane Katrina, bolstered the confident statements made by city officials about New Orleans’s ability to bear up. | This system and a rapport between parish, state and federal authorities that is far stronger than the dysfunctional relationship that characterized the response effort to Hurricane Katrina, bolstered the confident statements made by city officials about New Orleans’s ability to bear up. |
| “We know now, based on the latest information, which is always subject to change, that we are going to have a hurricane that is going to hit New Orleans,” Mr. Landrieu said at a news briefing on Monday. But, he added, “there’s nothing this storm will bring us that we are not capable of handling.” | “We know now, based on the latest information, which is always subject to change, that we are going to have a hurricane that is going to hit New Orleans,” Mr. Landrieu said at a news briefing on Monday. But, he added, “there’s nothing this storm will bring us that we are not capable of handling.” |
| After a tremor of anxiety on Saturday night and Sunday, when it became clear that the storm had turned its gaze to Louisiana, the sort of autopilot pragmatism that comes from living in hurricane country kicked in. By Sunday night, New Orleans residents had stripped bare the shelves of some grocery stores and sucked some gas stations dry. | After a tremor of anxiety on Saturday night and Sunday, when it became clear that the storm had turned its gaze to Louisiana, the sort of autopilot pragmatism that comes from living in hurricane country kicked in. By Sunday night, New Orleans residents had stripped bare the shelves of some grocery stores and sucked some gas stations dry. |
| The storm has already forced the evacuation of workers from 346 oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, which are responsible for 17 percent of domestic oil production and 6 percent of natural gas production, though it has so far had little effect on the price of commodities. It has also led to at least one confirmed tornado, in Vero Beach, Fla., and has put officials far beyond the shore on alert for more. | The storm has already forced the evacuation of workers from 346 oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, which are responsible for 17 percent of domestic oil production and 6 percent of natural gas production, though it has so far had little effect on the price of commodities. It has also led to at least one confirmed tornado, in Vero Beach, Fla., and has put officials far beyond the shore on alert for more. |
| “We’re still recovering, so we are geared up as much as any staff members can be,” said Yasamie August, information manager for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, in a state that was devastated by tornadoes last year. | “We’re still recovering, so we are geared up as much as any staff members can be,” said Yasamie August, information manager for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, in a state that was devastated by tornadoes last year. |
| There was good news for some residents of Mississippi and Alabama on Tuesday after the National Hurricane Center lifted a hurricane warning that had been in effect for portions of those states’ coastlines. | |
| Robert Bentley, Alabama’s governor, followed that news by lifting a mandatory evacuation order for portions of Baldwin and Mobile counties, and instead issued voluntary evacuation orders for low-lying areas. | |
| Mandatory evacuations remain in place for parts of Mississippi, and shelters have opened all along the coast. Evacuations have also been announced in several communities outside the levees in south Louisiana, as well as for the entire parish of St. Charles, west of New Orleans. | |
| Renee Simpson, a spokeswoman for the parish, said the evacuation was called for because much of the parish is unprotected by levees from the surging gulf. She pointed out that a mandatory evacuation did not mean people would be arrested or roads closed, but amounted to a warning that, with electrical failures and extensive flooding likely, people who chose to stay would essentially be on their own. | Renee Simpson, a spokeswoman for the parish, said the evacuation was called for because much of the parish is unprotected by levees from the surging gulf. She pointed out that a mandatory evacuation did not mean people would be arrested or roads closed, but amounted to a warning that, with electrical failures and extensive flooding likely, people who chose to stay would essentially be on their own. |
| Some groups in other states had volunteers heading to the New Orleans area. | Some groups in other states had volunteers heading to the New Orleans area. |
| At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Monday night, the scene at gate B7 was an American portrait, with retirement-age Red Cross workers and young AmeriCorps kids waiting to see if their plane to New Orleans would actually take off, when so many reports said that the city’s Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was closed. (It had not yet closed.) | At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Monday night, the scene at gate B7 was an American portrait, with retirement-age Red Cross workers and young AmeriCorps kids waiting to see if their plane to New Orleans would actually take off, when so many reports said that the city’s Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was closed. (It had not yet closed.) |
| So the flight was called, and the volunteers, camera crews, and New Orleans residents trying to get back home under the wire shuffled onto the plane. It took off, and landed in an eerily silent city just before midnight — where most of the passengers discovered that the car rental companies had shut down much earlier in the day. | So the flight was called, and the volunteers, camera crews, and New Orleans residents trying to get back home under the wire shuffled onto the plane. It took off, and landed in an eerily silent city just before midnight — where most of the passengers discovered that the car rental companies had shut down much earlier in the day. |
| In Louisiana, St. Charles residents seemed mildly amused that people would leave for anything under a Category 3. | In Louisiana, St. Charles residents seemed mildly amused that people would leave for anything under a Category 3. |
| “Category 1 or 2, I’m staying; strong 3, 4 or 5, yeah, I’m out,” said Dale Daunie, a teacher in Luling. “We’re just going to grin and bear it for a little bit. You know, barbecue and make the best out of it.” | “Category 1 or 2, I’m staying; strong 3, 4 or 5, yeah, I’m out,” said Dale Daunie, a teacher in Luling. “We’re just going to grin and bear it for a little bit. You know, barbecue and make the best out of it.” |
| Anjanette Joseph, a nurse in Destrehan, concurred with that analysis, judging the risks not worth the inconveniences of a hasty exit. “All the hotels were booked up for pets, and we have a dog and a mouse, so we decided to stay,” she said. | Anjanette Joseph, a nurse in Destrehan, concurred with that analysis, judging the risks not worth the inconveniences of a hasty exit. “All the hotels were booked up for pets, and we have a dog and a mouse, so we decided to stay,” she said. |
| This attitude concerned Louisiana officials, who warned that multiple days of rain on top of dangerous storm surges would severely test local drainage systems and that days without power in a Louisiana summer is not something anyone would want. But the gulf mentality dies hard. | This attitude concerned Louisiana officials, who warned that multiple days of rain on top of dangerous storm surges would severely test local drainage systems and that days without power in a Louisiana summer is not something anyone would want. But the gulf mentality dies hard. |
| “I’m not afraid of the storm,” said Denise Maul, a retired nurse who has an apartment in New Orleans with her husband. Her car was loaded, and she was planning to leave on Monday afternoon, she said. But they are only going to Mobile, where they have a house. It was a matter of comfort, not security. “My dad used to always say, ‘Rainy weather ain’t good for nothing but ducks and lovers,’ ” she said. | “I’m not afraid of the storm,” said Denise Maul, a retired nurse who has an apartment in New Orleans with her husband. Her car was loaded, and she was planning to leave on Monday afternoon, she said. But they are only going to Mobile, where they have a house. It was a matter of comfort, not security. “My dad used to always say, ‘Rainy weather ain’t good for nothing but ducks and lovers,’ ” she said. |
Reporting was contributed by Kim Severson from Atlanta; John Schwartz from New York; Clifford Krauss from Houston; Lizette Alvarez from Tampa, Fla.; and Dave Thier from St. Charles Parish, La. | Reporting was contributed by Kim Severson from Atlanta; John Schwartz from New York; Clifford Krauss from Houston; Lizette Alvarez from Tampa, Fla.; and Dave Thier from St. Charles Parish, La. |