Hurricane Isaac Whips Storm Surge On Path To New Orleans

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-28/isaac-to-creep-ashore-soaking-new-orleans-on-katrina-date.html

Hurricane Isaac unleashed a storm surge of as much as 12 feet (3.7 meters) and strong winds as it pushes water over a levee on its path to New Orleans.

The storm was 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Houma, Louisiana, and 50 miles south-southwest of New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said in a report published on its website at 6:56 a.m. New York time. Isaac will probably cause “significant damage” to New Orleans, according to National Weather Service Chief Meteorologist Ken Graham.

“Isaac is skirting the coast and is half-inland, half- offshore, and as a result, has not weakened,” Graham said in a telephone interview today. “We’re going to have strong tropical-storm force winds with hurricane gusts almost all day today in some areas. You’re going to start losing trees, having more power outages and more flooding.”

The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds were 80 miles per hour, making it a Category 1 hurricane, the center said. Gusts of as much as 66 miles per hour have begun to hit Lakefront Airport in New Orleans and Boothville, Louisiana. The levee was overrun with water in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005 when levees protecting the city failed, killing 1,800 people.