people, leading organizations. welcome to "cnn newsroom international." i'm suzanne malveaux. we're taking you inside the violence in sere wra since the civil war began. she was an amerin woman who died fighting for palestinian rights. now israel says its military is not responsible. we begin, of course, with wind and water. isaac intensifying as promised. this storm almost the size of texas is likely to become a hurricane very soon. forecasters have a better idea of where the gulf coast will make a direct hit.

i want to bring in our meteorologist jennifer delgoto at the severe weather center tracking isaac and brian todd life from new orleans, monitoring the levee situation. brian, we'll get to you. jennifer, what do we expect of the path of the storm? >> it looks like it's going to be a slow mover. we're not seeing any changes. we had a last advisory roughly an hour and a half ago. the winds right now are still at 70 miles per hour. still not a hurricane. it's not really whether or not it becomes a hurricane. we're really concerned about the storm surge, as well as the heavy rainfall. walk over here real quickly. we're going to talk a bit more about the storm. again, maximum winds as i said, 75 miles per hour with gusts up to 85. right now it's located roughly about 80 miles south of the mouth of the mississippi. see for yourself, this storm is huge. it's really having a hard time really pulling itself together because it is so large. now, again, as we go through really the next 24 hours, of course, weather conditions are going to deteriorate. we are going to see it making

landfall. looks like late tonight, possibly late tonight into the overnight hours. very likely as a category 1. see the winds, 80, 75, even as we go through wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. as i said, it's going to be a slow mover, but we're expecting tropical storm conditions to arrive in the area as we head later into the afternoon. as i take the track out furthef, as we go into thursday, we're looking at a potential of a tropical storm. this is going to bring very beneficial rainfall for parts of the midwest. we'll talk about that later on. the winds right now 35 coming out of new orleans. coming out . still not picking up those tropical storm conditions just quite yet. few for us right now, we have a tornado watch in place from southeastern parts of new orleans, or should say louisiana, spreading over toward florida, and this is going to be in effect until 7:00 tonight. you can start to see some of those stronger bands. this is another threat with tropical storm isaac. also want to point out to you the storm surge.

we're expecting it to peak late tuesday as well as into wednesday a.m. some of these locations, suzanne, 8 to 12 feet high. that is above ground. obviously. >> the army corps of engineers, jennif jennifer, says they're about to close the new orleans flood gates. this is the first time since after it was built after hurricane katrina. >> this is the first time we've seen this, a massive project done by the u.s. army corps of engineers, $15 billion. as we come back over possibly to our google earth, this is the west closure complex. this, alone, was $1 billion. what it's designed to is basically the closure and the gates, maybe we can zoom in just a bit more. of course, when you get some of that storm surge coming in from the sea, what this gate is going to be doing is blocking it. they are going to close this. this is the first time that they've done this since hurricane katrina. now, i want to point out to you on the back side of this closure, there are a bunch of pumping stations. what they're designed to do is kick that water back out and try

to keep the city nice and dry. so hopefully this new $1 billion facility does its job, what it's designed to do because they've got a lot of pumping stations out there. roughly 72 up and down this region. so they're a lot better prepared for this time than from katrina. keep in mind, suzanne, if it makes landfall at midnight, that would come on the anniversary of katrina. >> jennifer delgato, thank you so much. president obama says response teams and suppls are ready to move in when azoack hits. he spoke at the white house, speaking to those in the path of the storm. listen in. >> as we prepare for isaac to hit, i want to encourage all residents of the gulf coast to listen to your local officials and follow their directions, including if they tell you to evacuate. we're dealing with a big storm and there could be significant flooding and other damage across

a large area. now is now the time to tempt fate. now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. you need to take this seriously. >> president says he's already approved a disaster declaration for louisiana. now, of course, the main fear from isaac is the potential for flooding here. the storm is set to hit the gulf coast on, believe it or not, the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. brian todd, he is looking at the preps that are going on in louisiana. >> reporter: louisiana residents prepare for a familiar menace. an approaching storm. lurking in the minds of many, the catastrophe of hurricane katrina in new orleans in 2005. levees overtopped, thousands flooded out, and a city paralyzed for weeks. a city that in some ways is still struggling to recover. could that happen again? this reassurance from the mayor of new orleans. >> i want to assure you all that there is nothing that this storm is going to bring us that we do not believe that we are pry pepd

to handle. >> reporter: experts agree since katrina hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to levees, canals and pumping stations have made new orleans better prepared for flooding. they say if a perfect storm were to hit new orleans, they couldn't rule out flooding. we spoke to tim on a local oversight board for flood protection. he says the levees are exponentially better than before katrina, built to withstand the storm strength that comes once every 100 years. he says the new construction should be built to a higher standard, to protect against the most rare of extreme storms that comes once every 500 years or more. >> other developed countries are building to a much higher standard. surely it's going to be more expensive to do that, but 100-year standard is not what we would have them built to. you know, we would like a 500 year or 1,000 year. >> brian is joining us live from new orleans. brian, let's talk a little bit about evacuations here. we know theuthorities said it was not mandatory to evacuate in

new orleans, but there are some low-lying surrounding areas and parishes where that is important. are people actually heeding the warnings of officials this go-round? >> reporter: they do seem to be heeding those warnings, suzanne. mandatory evacuations were ordered for low-lying parishes that are along the coastal areas. plaquemin plaq some were mandatory. no mandatory evacuations as you mentioned for the city of new orleans. but mayor mitch landrieu did say strongly urged residents outside the levee protected areas of new orleans strongly urged them to get out. and he was doing that as of yesterday and even earlier. so some areas, mandatory. if you're along the coast, inside the city of new orleans, not mandatory, but they're saying, you know, make your preparations. if you're going to hunker down, you should have already made those preparations. if you're in the city of new orleans outside the le vervee protected areas they strongly

urmg r urge residents there to get out. those are susceptible to flooding. >> thank you, brian todd. with isaac off in the gulf, the republican national convention getting revved up in tampa today. mitt romney arrived in tampa less than an hour ago. expecting paul ryan to hit the ground any moment now. we saw ann romney on the stage at the convention site checking everything out. she's going to speak tonight at 10:00 eastern. tonight's keynote traaddress is going to new jersey governor chris christie. choosing somebody very outspoken like christie, a departure from the party that really hasn't been big on keynote speeches in recent years. i want to bring in brook bae baldwin to explain. >> reporter: a late summer walk on the shore quickly becomes an event. >> hey, governor, how are you? >> hello, man, how are you? >> show up for the working man? >> try the best we can. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: christie has become

a republican rock star about to play the concert of his life. >> best thing that ever happened to new jersey. >> tha you. >> i think i was picked because of the job i'm doing here. >> reporter: a week before christie was to deliver his gop convention keynote speech, he talked of building a middle american economy that looked a little more jersey shore. >> i say that the new jersey comeback has begun. not that the new jersey comeback has arrived, not that the new jersey comeback has peaked. >> reporter: better, bolder, brasher governance, a dish republican keynoters like to serve hot. >> americans know that bill clinton's promises have the life span of a big mac on air force one. >> reporter: and democrats like to dish back. >> there is not a black america and a white america, a latino america, an asian america, there's the united states of america. >> reporter: but while the democrats never miss a keynote speech, the republicans had

anyone in two of the last three conventions. >> they have to try to avoid the risk of someone saying something they're not supposed to say or could be risky to say. >> reporter: chris christie is different. he's popular because he's combative. he controls his story line. >> did i stay on topic? are you stupid? on topic. on topic. next question. >> reporter: 16 former keynoters have run for president. christie says he's happy as new jersey's governor, bristoliat suggestions his new jersey comeback story didn't make for a good keynote speech after the unemployment rate rose to 9.8% over the last three months. >> the plounemployment rate is survey, poll, of 1,200 people in the state. they're not out there specifically counting heads and jobs. that's not what it is. >> reporter: by the end of last week, his jersey comeback theme had gone away. >> there are three words that are not in my speech on tuesday night. the jersey comeback. >> reporter: he says he's saving

his new story line for the party faithful. >> brooke joins us live here. so, brooke, the keynote speech, pretty important for those who have future political aspirations. real history there, of course, the speakers get that slot end up running f president. but chris christie says, and i think these were his words, shy of committing suicide. he's not doing it. he's not interested in becoming the presidential nominee. has that changed? >> so he says. so many people, as you know, have asked, we're journalists. that's our job. when you look back historically speaking, i mentioned in my speech, 16 keynoters went on to run for president and two of them, only two actually won the party's nomination, president obama and warren gene harding in 2008, in 1920 respectively. might we see a chris christie ticket eventually? we shall see. >> all right. one of the things clearly that people are focusing on is the storm that is barreling down coming over potentially new orleans and some other areas.

on the seventh anniversary of katrina. really, in some ways, bringing up the spector, memories of how former president george w. bush mishandled all that. is that a concern for folks here in terms of how romney and ryan deal with this impending storm? >> of urse. of course it is. i mean, suzanne, talk about it's just really bad luck here, and the republican party in particular as you mentioned because of katrina, can you believe, you know, seven years ago tomorrow, are extra sensitive to that and there is still talk and there are a lot of headlines down here in florida. the ghost of katrina haunting the gop just because of the political fallout that we saw with then-leader president george w. bush in his handling or some critics say really mishandling of hurricane a trina. so watch for a very delicate dance in terms of words coming from these republican speakers the next three nights. >> and, brooke, we are seeing ann romney actually there on the convention floor. obviously she's been going

through some sound checks and working with the teleprompter, that type of thing. describe for us, tell us what is the importance of the message that she's delivering this ev evening? >> it is so crucial, because when you look at those poll, when you look at the polls, president obama's lead over mitt romney, specifically yesterday it was the "washington post" poll, six-point lead, when it comes to women. that chasm is greater with the cnn/orc poll, question being, are they in touch with women? it's ann romney's job to humanize her husband, to show him as a compassionate family man, a father, a successful businessman, some of which chris christie will certainly touch on as well. just to show that really just human, human side of her husband that apparently so many americans have yet to see. >> we see her calm and relaxed as she's speaking to reporters. we're going to pay close attention later today as she delivers her address. brooke, thank you very much. appreciate it. cnn's primetime coverage of the republican national convention begins tonight, 7:00 p.m. eastern, with my colleague, wolf blitzer.

and authorities, not mincing words. they are demanding that everyone living in the grand isle louisiana get out of isaac's way. we're going to hear from the mayor live. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. they buy all their groceries right here, but let me ask you, did you ever think of walmart for a smartphone? no. let me show you something. walmart has the latest technology on the biggest networks. i mean look at these smartphones. whoah! will you show them? absolutely. we've got great 4g lte smartphones like this droid razr by motorola from verizon. wow verizon? you bet. you love the price. he loves the phone. let's dance! get unlimited talk, unlimited text and shareable data with verizon's new share everything plan. and now get the droid razr by motorola from verizon for only $89.88 on america's fastest 4g network. now at walmart.

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the outer bands of tropical storm isaac now hitting the grand isle louisiana. i want to bring in, there's a mandatory evacuation order that's in effect. just about everybody in the small community has pretty much packed up and left. ed lavendera. i understand you have the mayor there with you. have people left? what is left to be done? >> reporter: you know, it's kind of one of those schizophrenic hours just before landfall of a major storm like this where you have a rain band come through and now the sun has come out. we haven't seen it in a while. it's rather bright. so we have the mayor here of grand isle, david cumberdel and your group of the last men standing on the island. >> as long as it stays a tropical storm, seven miles long, winds coming out of the east toward the mouth of the river which is about 15 miles from here. the storm, all in all, hopefully

this thing comes right through and looking at the water situation and the bands hitting us now, we want this thing to get through and get it over with. >> reporter: are you worried it's a slow-moving storm? >> this type of storm is very dangerous. we talked about this earlier. as it gets closer to the river, it can really intensify. we've seen that happen. i remember hurricane juan pushed a lot of water. so, again, we're going to monitor it and make sure everybody's safe. >> reporter: you've been here through hurricane katrina in 2005, hurricane gustav in 2008. do you think this will be more similar to gustav. >> yes, that's what it's looking like. we've been through many hurricanes. we were all born and raised with the hurricanes. i have firemen patrolling the roads, my police officers, state police. in the meantime, we're going to make sure we take care of people. >> reporter: the sun has left us once again. another one of these rain bands starting to come through. how many people on the island normally, and how many people left now?

>> usually 1,500 residents. right now we have about 30 people left. still trying to get them out as we speak. you can see the band hitting us now, the first major band. we're trying our best, ed, to get them all out. the ones that doesn't want to leave, my firemen, policemen, know where they're at. and my director. we're going to make sure we get to them at the last minute. after all hell breaks loose, we're going to get them after. >> they're getting annoyed with you because -- we'll let you guys dry up a bit before this goes. we'll be in touch with the mayor throughout the coming hours. you can see here, suzanne, just how quickly things change up and, you know, those initial hours before the storm makes its way here into grand isle. but the storm surge is really one of the things they're most concerned about. perhaps as much as 7 to 8 feet. where we are is about 4 feet high. we're on the second floor of a home here on the island. this stands about 15 feet high. we've been crunching the numbers and feel confident about where we're going to be throughout the

storm. as the mayor said, the center part of this storm he expects to come dramatically close here to the grand isle islet. >> are you safe, are there places that are safe for people, for the mayor, for his officials and those folks that are going to be staying like yourself? do you feel comfortable? >> reporter: absolutely. we're going to be in close touch with mayor and his team. those were people from the levee board, the fire department standing with him and dean blanchard who owns the home we're going to be at. they're at a command center just a few blocks away. this home that we're in has been reinforced several times since the last few hurricanes. and -- >> we lost ed lavendera. we're just learning now isaac is a category 1 hurricane, officially a category 1 hurricane, as expected, of course, as it picks up steam and power as it heads into the gulf. the government of syria is doing all they can to keep

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we want to bring in jen delgato. of course, we learned isaac has turned from a tropical storm to a category 1 hurricane. jen, tell us what this means. >> yeah, we do have updated information. actually the national hurricane center issued an immediate advisory. now we do know isaac is a hurricane. a category 1. as we look at the graphics, i want to give you the updated details. 75 miles per hour. just becoming a hurricane. you can see for yourself this is the circulation right now located roughly about 80 miles southeast of that coastline, the mouth of the mississippi. you can see, we're going to start to see some of those outer bands working in as we start to go a little later into the afternoon. now, this means hurricane conditions are expected later into the evening with tropical storm conditions very likely to arrive later into the afternoon. moving to the northwest right now at 10 miles per hour. now, we track this for you and you have to forgive us, we're just getting this information in, so it takes a little while for the national hurricane

center's graphic information to update with ours. again, notice, it keeps it as a category 1. this is tuesday at 8:00. forgive us. this is wednesday, 8:00 a.m., and it's still category 1. with it moving so slowly, we're going to be dealing with the great potential for flooding. of course, we're talking in some locations 12 to 18 inches of rainfall. and then as it moves so slowly, you can see for yourself we're talking about it still being a tropical storm as we head into thursday. to give you an update on some of the winds out there, right now, 37. these are actually wind gusts. 37 at times at panama city. yes, those winds will increase throughout the day as well as throughout the evening and also want to point out to you, yes, we do have hurricane isaac out there now. but notice we're starting to see some of those stronger bands, some of those storms working into southeastern parts of louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and even over toward the very western part of florida. so, suzanne, we were expecting it to become a category 1. right now we just need to make sure the flood levees and

everything else does its job. we're concerned about storm surge. some of the locations, possibly new orleans, 8 to 12 feet. >> jen, we're going to be talking to somebody very important who knows that firsthand. general russell honore, in louisiana, talking about what the storm surge mean, whether or not he believethe levees will hold up and the kinds of things that have been done since hurricane katrina, now that we're dealing with hurricane isaac. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills.

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yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt. hurricane isaac, category 1 now. i want to bring in retired army general russel honore in baton rouge, louisiana, to talk about whether new orleans is ready. honore, general, you coordinated the military relief efforts in new orleans after the city was basically in chaos after hurricane katrina. there's a lot of work that has been done. is new orleans ready? >> yes. for this storm and the conditions we have, we put --

the federal government has spent $10 billion on the levees. much of the city infrastructure has been replaced. people have invested in their homes. many of them have been raised. yes, the city is better prepared and i think the people are better prepared skruas a result the investment that's been made since katrina. >> general, are you concerned at all you do not have mandatory evacuations that were ordered for new orleans? officials are relying on the levee system that has not yet been tested and there are folks in the city. is that a problem? >> it would be, suzanne, because that levee system was designed primarily to keep the surge water out. the problem with new orleans, before katrina and ever since the city's been there is how we get the water out. if we get a sustained flow of water coming in from the storm, that could be problematic. that's why most of the houses in the city have naturally been raised off the ground. so the water from the rain could be a problem if it comes in too fast that the pumps cannot

handle it. now, people know if their streets flood during normal thunderstorms, and they should take extra precautions. they should also check in on people who live alone that may live in flood-prone areas inside the city and make sure they're taking proper actions to get them out and don't assume somebody else has done it. yes, this is still a dangerous situation. if that water comes in beyond what the pumps can push it out of the city. >> and the new orleans mayor, mitch landrieu, he says it is too late to evacuate the city. what is the best advice that you would give to people who are hunkered in? they are staying in their homes instead of evacuating earlier? and are going to ride out this storm? this hurricane. >> well, i think people need to go back and assess where they are. this amount of water that is being predicted to come into the city, up to a foot or above, could cause the electricity to go out. can you live in your home

without electricity for three to five days or even longer? and if the answer is no, then you need to go to the nearest evacuation point and seek shelter. because that is the condition we may be facing inside the city of new orleans. and to any doubting members who say this has been a tropical storm, it's now a hurricane. you have bragging rights to say you have survived a category 1 hurricane. please, if you are outside the levee protection system, please move immediately to the local parish or county evacuation center or pickup point and get to high ground. because this storm will cause flooding along the coast of louisiana and mississippi and it will turn the electricity off. >> general, you were dealing with post-hurricane katrina. you know very well what some of the biggest challenges are for new orleans including the level of poverty there as well. what is going to be the biggest challenge this go-round?

>> is to get people to look out for one another, number one. the government is not good enough to take care of everybody. we must look in on our neighbors and our relatives. don't assume somebody else is going to do it. and the great actions by a lot of volunteers that came in after the storm, after katrina, is how do we recover in a timely manner without recreating a lot of the drama that happened after katrina? so the city is still being rebuilt. the central business tickdistris strong and coming back as strong as ever, but there's still part of the lower ninth ward, as you know, suzanne, and the seventh ward that has not been rebuilt. it's still fighting plight. we still need to get that work done so there's affordable housing throughout the city of new orleans so we can get this city back, the population to the great city, it remains and was before katrina in terms of its population and its people.

>> general, i know that firsthand. i was just in new orleans about four weeks ago and really saw some of those neighborhoods, seventh ward, ninth ward doesn't look different than it did seven years ago. thanks for your advice. we urge people to get the advice, and general russel honore. we're awaiting for bobby jindal to address the community and talk about the storm, now a hurricane that is charging toward louisiana. we're going to bring you live that press conference as soon as it starts. went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

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isaac is now a category 1 hurricane. dusk to dawn curfew announced in harrison county, mississippi, the gulf port area, suffered a direct hit from hurricane katrina seven years ago. david mattingly is there with a look at how that area has rebuilt and is now bracing for isaac. first we go to louisiana governor bobby jindal to get an update on what is taking place in louisiana.

>> according to them the storm continues to appea to be getting better organized but it is also slowing. we know that tropical storm winds have started in plaquemines parish, there have been tropical storm gusts in new orleans as well. tropical storm winds will start to spread into baton rouge later today. as we have said earlier including yesterday, the storm is moving slowly so we can expect to see tropical storm wind duration for as long as 24 hours in many locations. some locations will have sustained tropical winds up to 36 hours. for areas in the direct path of the storm, there will be hurricane-force winds lasting as long as anywhere between six and ten hours. the slow movement of the storm means there's a greater chance of heavy rain. the forecast shows there could be as much as anywhere between 10 and 16 inches of rain in some of these areas. slow movement obviously means not only longer duration for the winds but the rains. we could see tornadoes both today and tomorrow. in terms of tidal surge, we expect tidal levels of 5 to 8 feet around lake pontratrain, 6 to 9 feet around grand isle, 6

to 10 feet west of the mississippi river, 7 to 11 feet east of the mississippi river, 5 feet in canals and bayous. one of the things we want to warn folks, again, according to the national weather service, that you could see tidal surges all the way through wednesday's high tide cycle, mean you could see the tidal surges after the storms passed through the area. just because the storm passed through the area doesn't mean you've seen the highest level of tidal surge in a give area. the first point i want to stress based on the update from the national weather service is this is a slow-moving storm. there are going to be many communities that are going to face several hours of heightened wind strength as well as heightened rainfall compared to normal. that will result in localized flooding, likely result in downed tree limbs and power lines. we strongly encourage people to follow the advice of local leaders about when it is safe to leave and use extreme caution and common sense when approaching the debris in the road and certainly to avoid any downed power lines.

in terms of disaster declarat n declarations, 41 parishes have declared emergency declarations. in terms of evacuations, seven parishes have already done mandatory evacuations for at least part of their parishes. these were as of yesterday as well as today. jefferson to grand isle, ground point, south of the leon teriel flood gates, plaquemines, east bank, central bank, west bank from irontown south to venice. st. charles did a parish-wide evacuation effective 6:00 p.m. sunday. lees landing, st. bernard did outside levee protection system effective 4:00 p.m. yesterday. st. james did for all mobile homes, flood prone and low lying areas. in addition to these, we had some parishes that did voluntary evacuations. terrebonne, noon yesterday, low lying areas. other than those already covered

in the mandatory area. assumption parish, new ones, assumption parish did it as a precautionary evacuation for the entire parish effective monday afternoon. st. john did low lying areas. livingst livingston, parish wide. those are all voluntary evacuations. in terms of other declarations, as of today, 28 school districts were closed. we have another two that are probably going to be added to that list that are making that decision. for tomorrow, we expect that to be 31 school districts closed. most are waiting to make decisions about thursday. three already decided to close. other districts are waiting and making those decisions. yesterday you may have seen the president granted a limited disaster deck claration for the state that provides for direct federal assistance. it does not provide for reimbursement that state and local governments are taking to prepare for the storm. we sent a letter yesterday to the president. we learned from past experiences

you can't wait, you have to push the federal bureaucracy. aggressive to do everything we can to protect our people and our property. we asked the folks from fema who are in the meeting today, there are certain declarations fema can make. other declarations require presidential signature. they say it has moved from their regional office to their central office. they have the request. they have not yet acted upon it but have the request. in terms of getting ready for the recovery efforts after the storms come through our pari parishes, our plans are to have 40 pods available for southeast louisiana, another 20 pods from north louisiana. each of those pods can each feed 5,000 people, so we're already prepositioning those pods and ready to ramp up additional pods as they become necessary. the national guard is in charge of that. we also hope to be able to get out, hopes to be able to get out with their federal partners with fema and do damage assessment flights as early as friday as well as on the ground assessments to start documenting

the damage to trigger assistance for our people. in terms of digfferent agency updates, department of veterans affairs, preparations are done in terms of sheltering in place. there are vans and buses from monroe and bo circsier, in case they're needed. currently the plans are to shelter in place. a d.o.a. announced state office closures today and wednesday in 22 parishes. they'll continue to monitor conditions, work with state police and dotd to identify and communicate additional office closures as they become necessary. ogb issued an emergency memo, taken steps to offer special prescription drug and health care assistance to members impacted by isaac, could include early refills, taking other steps to help beneficiaries get the health care services they need during the storm. national guard requested tigtle 32 authorization from the pentagon to provide more support

for their activities. we sent in that request yesterday. we've not heard anything back from the pentagon on that request. we activated 4,158 soldiers and airmen. 67 bus drivers to help support the department of transportation and department of education. they've sent 23 liaison officer teams to parishes in the storm warning areas. yesterday they assembled 225 cots, and a generator to the st. margaret nursing home in new orleans. in terms of search and rescue, we anticipate there to be missions not only starting today but going on until tomorrow, and perhaps beyond that as well, based on local flood conditions, national guard has 48 boat teams deployed to predesignated storm locations as well as eight engineer work teams. they have 13 teams deployed as well, that's an increase from the ten we announced previously. just to give you an idea in terms of the boat teams and search and rescue assets, that

includes plaquemines parish, new orleans and other areas likely to see the earliest -- coastal areas likely to see flooding. national guard has security and command patrol vehicles, 78 boats and 40 aircraft to help us get ready to and respond to the storm as well. in terms of the department of corrections, they have completed moving offenderses from coastal parishes. they moved 2,124 offenders from new orleans, terrebonne, plaquemines and st. bernard ahead of the storm. they were moved to state prison facilities. they're not moving additional prisoners at this time. they moved them out of temporary facilities and other facilities that may have been threatened by the storm to state facilities. they also have two different teams of 20 inmates each filling sandbags for abraville parish. in addition to that, their inmate crews have assembled 92 kennels on 5 different trucks to help with pet evacuations.

we're working very closely with the sheriffs to make sure they have local security. the resources they need to provide local security. the sheriffs, themselves, o organized 100 sheriffs deputies from north louisiana ready to deploy in the southern parishes. they can call up 400 deputies in total if needed to supplement local officers. in addition, state police and national guard are also ready to help provide and supplement security efforts in any parish impacted by the storm. in terms of search and rescue, fema deployed texas one. >> you're listening to governor bobby jindal of louisiana outlining the state's plan to take on this category 1 hurricane isaac. we're going to go to ed lavendera to one of the places where there's a mandatory evacuation that going on right now to get the situation on the ground. we're just going to take a quick break. this country was built by working people.

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ed lavendera in grand isle, louisiana, where there's a mandatory evacuation that's under way. ed, are most people out of their homes and to safety? >> reporter: by in large here on the island of grand isle, where there are normally about 1,500 residents, the mayor told us a little while ago there are about 30 people left and many of those people include emergency management officials that live here and will be hunkering down, riding out the storm here. suzanne, this is a perfect moment of just how bizarre the hours leading up to one of these storms looks like. you know, the sun has come at just moments before we came out.

look up at the sky, a big patch of wide open blue sky that you can see right before this. i would imagine here it wouldn't be bizarre by the time we're done talking together here in the next few minutes that it starts raining again. so these clouds, these storms, these rain bands starting to move through much more quickly. and i think that's an anticipation of what we will begin to see here in the coming hours. where storm surge really appears, even though this storm has now been upgraded to a hurricane, a category 1 storm, the storm surge is what they're going to be most concerned about. back in 2008, my colleague ali velshi and his team rode out hurricane gustav here. this roof which has been replaced came ripping off the home here and flew back over here toward the bay. all this area you see out here below us had about 3 feet of water. we're on the second floor of this home that is very securely built and we're going to be riding out the storm here and are well prepared for all of that regardless of how rough it gets here.

but that's why we're really concerned about the storm surge. we've been crunching the numbers trying to figure out if we're safe here at the height that we're at. everything seems to be working out well so far. we'll continue to monitor that here in the hours ahead. as i mentioned, most of the people, as you mentioned, suzanne, have evacuated this island. >> we're going to keep a close eye on you as well as those 30 or so folks who are still in grand isle. make sure you are safe. of course, like a lot of americans, my family was hit by hurricane katrina. we're going to talk about how the folks in new orleans are weathering this new storm. like my cousin adrian, he's on the ground and he is waiting, waiting out for isaac to hit. we're at walmart with anita and her son brian.

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isaac is closing in on new orleans. around hurricane katrina's anniversary. when katrina hit seven years ago it struck me personally. my family is from new orleans and many of my relatives suffered through the storm. some of them lost everything. they survived. we were the lucky ones. a series of stories i did shortly after katrina hit. one of the stories featured my cousins seen here.adrian. you're looking good. that's good. you and i have been talking a little bit. tell me, you are not in one of those areas that is mandatory evacuation, but you left the house and left the house with the rest of the brothers.

where have you gone and tell me why. >> well, we're at my best friend's house, eric broshier, in the inner city, he has a pretty solid home. we had weathered the hurricane george here once before so we decided to come here, because my house is a single level home, and some of my brothers can't swim and i didn't want to take that chance if something catastrophic would happen. >> we're hoping, adrian, nobody is going to have to swim, but, yeah, it could get pretty bad. we understand the flooding could get pretty bad. what are things like there in new orleans? are you able to grocery shop? has the power gone out? do you have the things you need? >> yeah, we've got everything we need. we're able to get all the stuff in preparation for the storm without any problems. and so far we still have all the power and everything we need. it's not been bad so far. >> you told me that this was

just a couple weeks ago that you actually went to the levees to visit them and you saw for yourself that they were structured, they were fortified, that you felt better about going into this storm because of it. why did you go to the levees? what did you see? >> well, there's a walking path up on the levee now. occasionally i go up there to do a little exercise. and i was surprised to see that the entire water side of the levee had concrete. that's to prevent what happened with katrina, where the water side eroded and the levees actually collapsed. so i was glad to see that. plus watching on tv the big structure to prevent storm surge from coming into lake pontratrain and the other waterways. really made me feel good about staying. >> adrian, are most people, are they seeking shelter? are they -- i know new orleans doesn't have to evacuate, but

are most people doing what you're doing and trying to find families and neighbors that have homes that are better able to deal with this kind of thing or are people just saying, hey, you know what, it's not that big a deal? >> i think a combination of both. i know a lot of my co-workers decided to stay and weather the storm. like i said, because of my situation with some of my brothers unable to swim, i didn't want to risk any chance of something catastrophic happening. and that's why i moved over by eric's house. >> i know people think that's really bizarre when you talk about whether or not your brothers can swim, but it was the case where you actually had some of your brothers who were getting in to boats off of some of the houses trying to rescue folks. i know the last go-round, one of the brothers was missing, rooster, for at least a week or so. is everybody together this go around? >> yeah. yeah. i made sure of that this time. >> all right. adrian, good to see you. good to see you're safe. we're going to check in with you

from time to time to see how the brothers are doing. thank you, adrian. nice to see you. we're going to have more on the hurricane after this. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. bny mellon wealth management questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here.

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