Isaac pounds Gulf Coast

Leroy Smith, front, helps evacuate Michele Bowers with Hank Schlindwein. Residents of LaPlace, La., say they have never seen water levels this high, even during Hurricane Katrina.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Michael Turner and his son watch the evacuation of their neighborhood in LaPlace, La., where they have never seen water levels this high, even during Hurricane Katrina. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Gas and food are in high demand as Hurricane Isaac continues to cause electricity outages in New Orleans.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Clean-up efforts in LaPlace, La., were hampered by heavy rain throughout the day.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Five-year-old Deandrea Patrick and others arrive by buses at a shelter away from a possible dam break along the Tangipahoa River in Mississippi.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Darion Dyson rests with her mother at a shelter north of Hammond, La., where they have been staying since Hurricane Isaac arrived.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Lenny Valentine goes back to his flooded home to get medication for his wife. Residents of La Place, La., have never seen water levels this high, even during Hurricane Katrina.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The Nguyen family is evacuated from their home in La Place, La. They wanted to stay, but ran out of food.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

the Interstate-10 freeway, at left, is closed northbound from New Orleans to Baton Rouge for rescue operations.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Residents use buckets to empty water out of their home in La Place, La.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Karla Jones, left, and Eddie Ganucheau, both residents of La Place, La., take stock of the area.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Michael Ferbosses uses a motorized wheelchair to make his way home through the wind and rain of Isaac in Chalmette, La. Isaac’s maximum sustained winds had decreased to 45 mph and the National Hurricane Center said it was expected to become a tropical depression by Thursday night.   (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Ashley Clague, right, and Jean Fernandez wait in line for their turn to buy supplies at a grocery store in Chalmette, La.  (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Zach Armand loads ice into Penelope Packard’s shopping cart after Isaac passed over Chalmette, La.  (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Errol Ragas wades through a cemetery where floodwaters have disturbed several graves to get to his home for supplies in Oakville, La.  (John Moore / Getty Images)

Christopher Smith rides in a boat after being rescued from the rising flood water from Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision in LaPlace,La.   (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

A car sits submerged in the floodwaters of Hurricane Isaac in LaPlace, La.   (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

Rescuers help people in Braithwaite, La., where dozens were stranded by floodwaters.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the National Guard stand watch in the French Quarter of New Orleans as Isaac continued to bring high winds and rain to the city.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Chuck Cropp, center, his son Piers, left, and wife Liz wade through floodwaters in New Orleans.   (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Danessa Lee, left, comforts her granddaughter Ashanti Lee, 12, after their family was rescued in Pearlington, Miss., by law enforcement officers and first responders using boats. A number of residents of the small community were trapped by the rising waters.  (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

Residents of Braithwaite, La., are taken off a rescue boat.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A group of people and their pets are taken out by truck after being rescued from their flooded homes in Braithwaite, La.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The rescue operation in Braithwaite, La., was hampered by strong winds and rain   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Rescue crews approach a house in Braithwaite, La., where dozens of people were stranded by high water after a levee was breached.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A fawn is lifted to shore after being rescued along with several dogs in Plaquemines Parish, La.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Residents of Braithwaite, La., stand together after they were rescued from high water from a levee breach.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Research students from the the University of Alabama measure wind speeds as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall Wednesday in New Orleans.  (Eric Gay / Associated Press)

People and a dog who were rescued from their flooded homes are loaded into a Louisiana National Guard truck after Hurricane Isaac made landfall and flooded homes with 10 feet of water in Braithwaite, La.  (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

Ronnie Willis makes his way across Canal Street in New Orleans through the wind and rain from Hurricane Isaac.  (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

A downed streetlight in the Central Business District of New Orleans.  (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

Isaac’s winds and storm surge flood parts of Waveland, Miss., on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast.  (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

A storm surge causes tides to quickly rise while rough waves pound the concrete seawall along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall.  (Skip Bolen / EPA)

A U.S. National Guard patrol passes along a flooded beach in Waveland, Miss.  (John Moore / Getty Images)

Waves pound the concrete seawall along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall along the Gulf Coast and now hovers over New Orleans.  (Skip Bolen / EPA)

Members of the National Guard patrol near the New Orleans Superdome as Hurricane Isaac approaches.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

New Orleans native Glenn Harris, holding a blind pony, says he’ll stay in St. Rose, La., to take care of his animals: 20 horses, six dogs and six cats. During Hurricane Katrina, Glenn evacuated all the animals himself, but the shelter he went to is no longer open.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Jackie Avadie lets her daughter, Ave, 3, play in the high surf as the waves from Hurricane Isaac slash over the seawall in New Orleans’ West End. The Avadie family does not plan to leave New Orleans during the storm.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Roger Harper holds his son, Ari, 4, as they play in the waves splashing up on the West End seawall in New Orleans.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

New Orleans residents head to the West End of Lake Pontchartrain to watch the waves roll in.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A woman in Tampa, Fla., enjoys the heavy rain spawned by Tropica Storm Isaac.  (Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images)

A rainbow arcs across the sky between rain showers outside Tampa.  (Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images)

Estanislao Fabian loads the car as Jordan Fabian, 6, and Jaylah Cole, 6, and Jaden Fabian, 1, wait to evacuate their home in Plaquemines Parish, La., ahead of the advancing Tropical Storm Isaac.  (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

A sailboat is grounded on the beach in Pass Christian, Miss.  (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

Workers at the Cigar Factory on Decatur Street in the French Quarter board up the front windows. With forecasts that Tropical Storm Isaac would be a hurricane when it reached the Louisiana coast, some New Orleans residents were busy preparing. Others didn’t seem very worried.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

As Tropical Storm Isaac approaches, a New Orleans family boards a bus to go stay with relatives.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Many residents were evacuating north on the I-10.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A man and his dog take a nap in the French Quarter. His friends say they don’t have enough money to leave. “We’re trying to get a little money together to buy some water and hop a train tonight,” said Rob Nonya, left. “Hopefully we’ll get enough.” During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it took Nonya four days to get out of New Orleans, and he said he had to walk almost to Texas before he got a ride.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

In the 9th Ward of New Orleans, destroyed by flooding after Hurricane Katrina, members of the Make It Right Foundation, founded by Brad Pitt, work to cover windows of a newly built but unoccupied home.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the Make It Right Foundation cover windows of a newly constructed home in New Orleans’ 9th Ward.   (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Push boats prepare to go to work at sunrise at the port of Jackson. The Mississippi River has receded to a historic low since last year’s flood, which has slowed transport. The river is 15 to 20 feet lower than, causing dirt to slough off into the channel. August is the most important month of the year for shipping crops like corn and soybeans on barges.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A man walks on the beach in Key West, Fla., as heavy winds hit the northern coast from Tropical Storm Isaac.  (Alan Diaz / Associated Press)

A car goes through a flooded street amid heavy rain in Key West, Fla.  (Alan Diaz / Associated Press)

Shira Edllan Gervasi of Israel adds her name to plywood protecting a storefront in Key West, Fla.  (Alan Diaz / Associated Press)

In New Orleans, workers move horses into trailers at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots after the track ordered evacuation of the animals, in preparation for Tropical Storm Isaac. The northern Gulf Coast was under a hurricane warning, stretching from west of New Orleans to Destin, Fla.  (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

A man and child watch strong swells on Bahoruco beach in Barahona, Dominican Republic, before the expected arrival of Tropical Storm Isaac.  (Orlando Barria / EPA)

Children look out at the beach as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches in Barahona, Dominican Republic.  (Ricardo Arduengo / Associated Press)

Strong swells hit Bahoruco beach, in Barahona, Dominican Republic, before the expected arrival of Tropical Storm Isaac.   (Orlando Barria / EPA)

Volunteers move balloons that will be dropped from the ceiling of the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., during the Republican National Convention. Tropical Storm Isaac is threatening possible disruptions due to its proximity to the Florida peninsula.  (Win McNamee / Getty Images)