Hurricane Isaac hits the Gulf Coast
Liam Dutton
Weather Presenter
Hurricane Isaac has hit the Gulf Coast of the US bringing torrential rain, very strong winds and a significant storm surge, causing flooding and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power.
Isaac made its first landfall at 7.45pm local time on Tuesday near the mouth of the Mississippi River, driving a storm surge of water around 11 feet (3.35 metres) inland.
At the time of landfall, sustained winds were around 80mph, with stronger gusts, placing Isaac as a category one storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
As well as very strong winds, sheets of torrential rain fell across widely over southern parts of Louisiana and Mississippi causing pockets of surface water flooding in more prone areas.
Power supplier Entergy reported that hundreds of thousands of homes were without power, including more that 250,000 in New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs.
Whilst Gulf Coast officials warned of the dangers of Isaac, they decided not to call for mass evacuations like those that preceded Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged people to use common sense. He said: “We don’t expect a Katrina-like event, but remember there are things about a Category 1 storm that can kill you.”
Despite the expectations of Isaac not producing a Katrina-like event, the storm surge did manage to spill over the top of a levee in the rural Plaquemines Parish south of New Orleans. Homes in a thinly populated area were flooded but no injuries were reported.
Although Isaac’s storm surge will be nowhere near the scale of that caused by Hurricane Katrina, all eyes will be on the New Orleans levee system bolstered by a $14 billion federal repair and improvement programme after the catastrophic failures experienced back in 2005.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Isaac made a second landfall near Port Fourchon, Lousiana in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time and was moving inland over south eastern parts of the state.
As the storm moves further inland in the next 24 hours, the winds will gradually start to weaken, but torrential rain will continue with a significant flood risk – particularly in low-lying areas.
The American weather service NOAA forecasts 7-14 inches of rain to fall over Lousiana, southern Mississippi and south west Alabama by Friday morning, with localised totals of 20 inches.
In the mid-Atlantic Ocean Tropical Storm Kirk has formed, although the forecast keeps this over open water with no threat to land expected for the foreseeable future.