HURRICANE ISAAC for The New York Times
In the days prior to Hurricane Isaac's arrival in Southern Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and ordered mandatory evacuations for several parishes that lay outside the federal levee protection system. Fatigued by the memories of Katrina, Gustav, Rita, and numerous tropical storms of the past decade, many residents chose to stay in their homes while Isaac made landfall on August 28th, 2012.
As the Category 1 hurricane slowly churned its way northward , it dumped nearly 12" of water and whipped up high storm surges that overwhelmed the levee walls built to protect several towns surrounding New Orleans. Heavy flooding in Plaquemines and St. Charles Parishes forced thousands of residents from their homes into temporary shelters, and at least 900,000 homes lost electricity by the time Isaac moved on from Louisiana.
