Salon.com > Hurricane Isaac

Ranchers cope with herd losses from Isaac’s floods

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 08:30:00 +0000

CITRUS LANDS, La. (AP) — In August, ranchlands spreading across the boot of Louisiana were dotted with hundreds of cows and calves grazing on a smorgasbord of marsh grasses.

But Hurricane Isaac took all that away, turning some of the best grazing land in Louisiana's low country into miles of brackish and foul-smelling floodwaters. A lot of the livestock raised there by a handful of ranching families drowned in Isaac's storm surge along with other wildlife. The storm overwhelmed weak levees protecting farm country south of New Orleans.

South Louisiana's cattle industry consists mostly of pockets of ranchers along the coast, including Plaquemines Parish. But at least 400 cattle perished in Isaac, and ranchers in the Mississippi River Delta now are pondering whether they can continue a tradition that's more than 200 years old.

Hurricane Isaac’s wacky conspiracists

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:39:00 +0000

Hurricane Isaac has inconvenienced a lot of people.

Many thousands of Gulf Coast residents have boarded up windows and sought shelter inland. And many others are now facing the prospect of cleaning up and rebuilding flooded homes and businesses.

But the inconvenienced people we’ve been hearing about most are the pundits and politicians who gathered in Tampa this week for the Republican National Convention.

If you’re been paying much attention to the fairy tales of the far right in the past few years, it should come as no surprise that not everyone thinks it was merely a coincidence that the swirling mass of rain and wind known as Isaac appeared on the radar screen just in time to disrupt the GOP’s nominating party and the news coverage of it.

Rush Limbaugh says Obama may have had something to do with it.

The fabulists at Joseph Farah’s extreme-right WorldNetDaily (WND) think it was the wrath of God.

Isaac steers clear of direct blow on New Orleans

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:15:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Isaac's whistling winds lashed this city and the storm dumped nearly a foot of rain on its darkened and desolate streets, but the system of levee pumps, walls and gates appeared to withstand one of the stiffest challenges yet. To the north and south, though, people had to be evacuated or rescued as Isaac lingered over Louisiana.

The rain fell almost constantly for more than a day, flooding neighborhoods in a rural part of the state and as far away as Mississippi. Officials had to respond quickly because the waters were rising fast — even as Isaac meandered slowly northward Thursday on a path toward Arkansas.

President Barack Obama declared federal emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi late Wednesday, according to a statement from the White House. The disaster declarations free up federal aid for affected areas.

Along the shores of Lake Ponchartrain, officials sent scores of buses and dozens of high-water vehicles to help evacuate about 3,000 people as rising waters lapped against houses and left cars stranded. Floodwaters rose waist-high in some neighborhoods, and the Louisiana National Guard was working with sheriff's deputies to rescue people stranded in their homes.

Isaac’s deluge

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:01:00 +0000

The levees surrounding New Orleans remain intact but Plaquemines Parish in southeast Louisiana has seen horrific flooding. ABC correspondent Jonathan Betz tweeted this picture a few moments ago:

Just got off boat in #Plaquemines. Heartbreaking. Dozens of homes flooded. Rescues @wwltv #wfaaisaac @wfaachannel8 twitter.com/jebetz/status/…

— Jonathan Betz (@jebetz) August 29, 2012

Eyes on the storm

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:33:00 +0000

On the Katrina anniversary, Isaac stormed over Louisiana

Isaac in New Orleans for Katrina’s 7th anniversary

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:14:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Isaac swallowed parts of the swamps south of New Orleans early Wednesday on its way toward the newly fortified city, as people across the region opted to ride it out despite its torrential rains, 80 mph winds and spooky timing — the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Far less powerful than that 2005 cyclone, Isaac nevertheless had knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses within hours of making landfall late Tuesday and left deserted streets from the French Quarter to Tampa 480 miles away, where Republican conventioneers pressed on with only a passing mention of the storm's arrival.

A Category 1 hurricane, Isaac came ashore at 7:45 p.m. EDT near the mouth of the Mississippi River, driving a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland and soaking a sparsely populated neck of land that stretches into the Gulf of Mexico. The worst was still to come as it zeroed in on New Orleans, 70 miles to the northwest, where forecasters said the city's skyscrapers could feel gusts up to 100 mph.

Concerns about the wind, however, gave way to fears that the sloppy, slow-moving storm could camp out over Gulf Coast communities for a couple of days and dump up to 20 inches of rain. At least one tornado spun off of Isaac in Alabama.

Isaac a few hours from landfall

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:38:00 +0000

7:01 PM

Numerous radar reports suggest Hurricane Isaac is forming an inner eyewall, which could intensify its strength as it hits land. Although the storm has been gaining strength, it may not be catastrophic. Forecasters told the New York Times that "it will almost certainly be a far smaller storm than initially feared."

Already, over 41,000 people are without power in Southeastern Louisiana as they brace for continuing high winds and severe flooding.

6:36 p.m.

Hurricane Isaac liveblog

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:05:00 +0000

5:24 p.m.

As the storm approached, photos on social media platforms conveyed the gravity of the situation on the Gulf Coast:

[caption id="attachment_12994986" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=" Credit: skooksie via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/skooksie/7875167696/Businesses board up with plywood in New Orleans on Monday, one day before the Hurricane is expected to hit land.Credit: @PhilBryantMS http://twitpic.com/aoo1jmMississippi Governor Phil Bryant tweets a meeting with FEMA after President Obama declared a state of emergency in Mississippi on Tuesday afternoon.Credit: @jonahjeter https://twitter.com/jonahjeter/status/240498213977731072While Louisiana residents evacuate, residents in Charleston, SC made light of the flooding brought on by Isaac, kayaking through downtown Charleston. Flash flood warnings for Charleston have been extended to 5:30 PM.5:14 p.m.In Tampa, California's delegation just awarded all of its 172 delegates to Mitt Romney.4:55 p.m.Did you catch this terrifying/majestic shot of Isaac in your Twitter feed in the last few days? It's widely reported to be a fake, and photoshopped to boot. The picture has been circulating for years, rearing its thunderhead whenever a major storm is on the horizon. "][/caption]

Don’t say “climate change”

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:31:00 +0000

The fact that Hurricane Isaac is threatening the Republican National Convention is not, as some Democrats have argued, evidence of karma. But it is evidence of climate change — undermining the best efforts of Republicans to deny that it even exists.

Earlier this month, Congress held its first hearing on climate science in more than two years. This was, of course, a hearing in the Democrat-led Senate; the Republican-controlled House wouldn’t even bother.

Senators heard testimony from a top scientist with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body charged with assessing the science and evidence of climate change — in other words, not an activist environmental organization but an independent body that has looked at all the evidence and put forward the consensus view.