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New Orleans’ post-Katrina levee system withstood relentless pounding from Hurricane Isaac yesterday — but the storm still managed to strand dozens of people in flooded homes and knock out power to more than 700,000 households in five states.
Miraculously, no major injuries were reported in New Orleans as Isaac crawled through southern Louisiana and fell back to tropical-storm status with winds of 70 mph. By early this morning, they were down to 60 mph.
But Gov. Bobby Jindal said officials may have to cut a hole in a levee in a rural area to relieve the pressure of rising floodwater on the structure.
The 8.5-foot flood barrier is on the east bank of Plaquemines Parish and outside New Orleans’ $14.5 billion rebuilt levee system.
Jindal said as many as 40 people need to be rescued in the area — even after volunteers in boats pulled dozens to safety earlier yesterday in the town of Braithwaite.
Jesse Shaffer, 25, said he and his father, 53, personally rescued more than 20 Braithwaite residents with their fishing boat. That included three children, ages 3 to 6, rescued from the roof of a totally submerged house on the verge of being washed away, he said.
The outlook appeared better in New Orleans, where the strengthened and improved levee system was standing firm.
“There are no risks,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. “It is holding exactly as we expected it to and is performing exactly as it should. There are no people on rooftops from flooding that even approximates what happened during Katrina.”
The biggest problem seemed to be downed power lines.
Nevertheless, he issued a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the city to prevent looting. Police and National Guard units, many wielding assault rifles, patrolled the almost empty downtown.
Isaac is moving so slowly, just 6 mph, that officials said it would be dumping rain and delivering high winds well into tomorrow.
“Unfortunately, this storm just won’t seem to leave us,” Landrieu said.
By the time it dissipates, probably this weekend in the Midwest, Isaac will have caused up to $1.5 billion in damage in insured losses, experts said.
In Vermilion Parish, Sheriff Mike Couvillon said a 36-year-old man had gone to help two friends move a vehicle from under a tree to prepare for Isaac on Tuesday evening, and fell to his death after climbing 18 feet up a tree. Deputies don’t know why the man climbed the tree.
Presiden Obama declared parts of Louisiana and Mississippi disaster areas to speed up the flow of federal funds.