With the National Hurricane Center showing Tropical Storm Isaac tracking northwest toward southeast Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and is encouraging residents of coastal parishes to voluntarily evacuate.
Additionally, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s property insurer of last resort, reported that it has temporarily ceased accepting applications for new coverage and endorsements to increase existing coverage due to Isaac.
Current NHC advisories show Isaac moving west-northwestward over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and posing significant storm surge threat to the northern Gulf Coast. It is expected to become a hurricane as it advances over the warm waters of the Gulf.
A hurricane warning is in effect for areas east of Morgan City Louisiana to Destin Fla., including metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas. A hurricane watch is in effect from Intracoastal City, La., to Morgan City.
Gov. Jindal is advising residents in parishes in the hurricane watch zone that are in low lying areas, areas south of the Intracoastal Waterway and areas outside of levee protection to evacuate.
At around 9:45 a.m. CDT, the storm was about 360 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving west-northwest at 14 mph, according to AIR worldwide, with maximum sustained winds at 65 mph.
While Isaac has not increased in strength since yesterday and its forward speed has decreased, conditions favor intensification, according to Dr. Tim Doggett, principal scientist at AIR Worldwide.
“Isaac is now expected to achieve hurricane intensity in the next 24 hours,” Doggett stated in an announcement released by Air Worldwide. “The landfall target now seems to be settling around the north central Gulf, near New Orleans. Landfall is forecast for Wednesday morning, August 28, the same day that Hurricane Katrina arrived on the Louisiana coast in 2005. Isaac will likely be a Category 2 hurricane at the time of landfall; Katrina was a strong Category 3 hurricane.”
Hotels in Baton Rouge are beginning to fill up in advance of the storm, according to the Baton Rouge Daily Report.
Plaquemines Parish, in far southeast Louisiana, has ordered mandatory evacuation for the east bank, as well as the lower end of the west bank of the parish from Ironton to Venice. The announcement by parish officials said Belle Chasse auditorium will open at noon today as a shelter. Schools in Plaquemines Parish are closed until further notice.
Mandatory evacuation also has been ordered for St. Charles Parish and parts of Jefferson Parish. Contraflow in evacuation routes out of New Orleans has not yet been activated.
Topics Catastrophe Louisiana Hurricane
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