jenna: a few minutes from now we will show you more. bill: we will see back tomorrow morning. martha: "happening now" happens right now. jon: brand-new information on hurricane isaac and its tech. category one storm seems to be spinning in slow motion, turning it into a major soaker, set to dump nearly 2 feet of rain in some spots. seven years to the day after hurricane katrina stormed ashore. 500,000 people are without power across louisiana. high winds and sheets of rain pelting the nearly empty streets

the army corps of engineers to say that flood protection system is holding up so far, but there is worth one levee south of new orleans flooded over, trapping some people in their homes. rescue curies enforced wait for the winds die down you can search and rescue. isaac came ashore with a wall of water nearly 11 feet high. the main highway that runs along the gulf coast and mississippi shut down because of the flooding. heavy rain and flooding our big concerns in alabama as well with forecasters saying the storm surge could be as much as 8 feet of him. we have our eyes on isaac as it continues its very slow track in length. we have live fox coverage with reporters all across the gulf coast. throughout the hour on "happening now." first, brand-new stories and

breaking news. jenna: we are live at the republican national convention in tampa, florida. reactions from paul ryan taking center stage. but he will tell the convention and the country. we will talk more about that. also, keeping an eye on what is happening with iran. sending a mission about syria. iran's says yes, it is sending members of the elite revolutionary guard to help the saudi regime. gas prices are going out. fears that they could go even higher. new concerns about the oil markets. can they do anything at this point? it is all new and live and it is "happening now." ♪ ♪ jenna: it feels like a two because it is the official full day of speeches. but it's believed day three of the republican national convention.

jon: become a little short and. jenna: there is a lot happening in tampa. i am generally. jon: i am jon scott. governor romney's running mate expected to take the floor. paul ryan will speak in tampa. the vice presidential pick to focus more on his personal story than on policy. his speech following opening remarks meant to rally the party, republican delegates and millions of americans watching at home, hearing from governor romney's wife, ann. and chris christie and john kasich. >> ladies and gentlemen, we need to leave here in march and get everybody to make sure that mitt romney and paul ryan our president and vice president of the united states. >> you may not agree with mitt's position on politics. by the way, massachusetts is only 13% republican, so it wasn't a shock to me. but let me say this to every

american who is thinking about who should be our next president. no one will work harder, no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. >> i know we can be the men and women in our country calls upon us to be tonight. i believe in it americans and our history. there is only one thing now, leadership. it takes leadership that you don't see you right now. real leaders don't follow polls, they make the polls. jon: the anchor of fox news sunday, chris wallace, joins us now. across the country people are talking of speeches and how they were received. but how are they received down there in tampa where you are? >> ann romney was a hit. everybody afterwards is buzzing

about this very much beautiful speech. she doesn't talk to -- when she says that you can trust mitt, it was almost like a good housekeeping seal of approval. i will tell you that in the hall, the reaction, people were following every word. there was absolute silence, except for when they were cheering. people were really wrapped up in attention. chris christie, not so much. a very hard act to follow. people thought that was the climax of the evening. as far as chris christie was concerned, i have to say that personally, i thought it was one of the most off key keynote speeches i ever heard. somebody did the math. he said the word "i" 37 times

and people liked his speech, but not nearly the kind of intense reactions to it. and the intense listening to it that there was for ann romney. jon: speaking to the new jersey delegation this morning, he said, ann romney introduced her husband and it wasn't my job to sort of, you know, personalize your tell you stories about mitt romney. it was my job to set the stage to talk about the big themes for the convention. that is what i was trying to do. reporter: first of all, that is not a very good sign at times. obviously, he's not going to tell stories about life with mitt romney. but it seemed to me he could have done a much more effective job. what is the central issue in this campaign? jobs? the economy? getting it started? but he never went after barack

obama's economic policies. he talked about failure of leadership. i don't know that is even the right critique. he didn't talk about obama's specific economic policies and why they haven't worked. and also why mitt romney's policies to get people back to work and get people into more jobs will work better. i just thought it was a big missed opportunity. jon: back to ann romney. her own personal story. i don't know what the percentage of women who are diagnosed with both breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, but it does personalize a woman who many have looked at other to mount a welcome and she has everything and has been handed the world on a silver platter. that is exactly right. we were told before that she was going to make the argument that they haven't always had it easy. they have had their own struggles, and they understand

what a lot of americans are going through right now. i thought that was going to be kind of a reach, given that they are so successful. but i think she pointed out that when they first got married and she started popping out babies, they have no idea that he is going to turn out to be as fabulously successful as he was. like a lot of young couples, they wondered and worried. of course, you add onto that the parable about health problems with ms and breast cancer. it hasn't been a fairytale marriage. it's been a real marriage. jon: chris wallace, the anchor of fox news sunday. chris, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. jenna: from tampa, florida, we will take you to louisiana. a fox news alert. hurricane isaac is drenching the coast and slowly, slowly moving inland. water has overtopped one levy.

according to some reports, there are a few folks trapped in their homes in this parish. more than half a million residents have lost power across southern louisiana. more than 150 have lost power in the thousands in new orleans. jonathan? reporter: first of all, let's start with the parish -- the rescue operation is underway. we have a crew on the scene. there is a rescue operation on the sea to free people who are potentially trapped by the overtopping. this is an area -- that army corps levee system appears to be holding up very nicely, protecting the city of new

orleans. it has undergone a retrofit to the tune of 14 plus billion dollars since hurricane katrina. the levee system has failed during one storm, causing much of new orleans to flood. but with these retrofits, the levee system appears to be holding in place. over here you can see a hotbed of activity behind me. we are standing in front of the convention center in new orleans, which is being used by the national guard as a staging area. we are told that some of the national guard were sent to plaquemines parish grade this is the low-lying area of potential flooding with any significant storm surge current local officials had called for a mandatory evacuation. but there were some residents, we don't know the exact number, but some residents who felt that because this was only going to come ashore as a category one

hurricane, they would be able to weather the storm there. but it is appearing that they have not bargain for the fact that this is a slow-moving storm, giving it a lot of time to build up a storm surge, causing the floodwaters to overtopped. overtopping the levee in plaquemines parish. >> we talked about not just the winds come up with a storm surge that is obviously a major concern in new orleans and other otherwise. more on this developing situation in. jon: what is next for isaac? janice dean is in the fox news whether center. he said that a category one hurricane is nothing to be chocolate. >> this is the worst you can have because of slow movement. we are used to northeaster is where we get big storms in the wintertime that's offshore and relentlessly pound rain and

wind. this is kind of one of those events. but the storm is massive. 400 miles wide. still, very well put together. twelve hours later. we are watching this develop and slowly moving onshore. new orleans, you're going to see rain and wind damage for a 24 or more our period. thirty-six hours the storm could continue to lash the coastline. very vulnerable, as jenna mentioned. storm surges and rain and wind, and a tornado watch until 4:00 p.m. we also have a tornado warning just south and east of hattiesburg. we see the rotating band seeing the potential for tornadoes. wind gusts, 70 miles per hour. mobile, 59 around the core of the storm. just take a look really quick. this is what we are dealing with overtime. this is our radar going into wednesday night into thursday. still dealing with rain and wind. it is just going to sit there

and spend. this could be one of the worst storms that new orleans and the surrounding areas have really ever seen. jon: thank you, j.d., we will check back in with an embedded. jenna: ann romney spoke to millions of americans last night about her husband, mitt romney. e-mail us and tell us what you thought. and later we will talk to the governor of oklahoma, his wife, on how he felt about the speech. in mississippi, another area we are watching what the storm. we will be right back with more "happening now."

>> i can't tell you what will happen over the next four years, but i can stand here tonight as a wife and mother and

grandmother. an american. and i can make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail. [cheers] [applause] >> this man will not let us down. this man will lift up america. jenna: that was ann romney in a deeply personal testimony to her husband at the rnc last night. trying to rally the party and americans watching to get behind governor romney. how did she do? governor mary fallin tak to the convention last night. she's joining us live from tampa, florida. nice to have you back on the program. >> it's great to be with you. jenna: last time we talked, we were talking about wildfires in your state. how are our friends in oklahoma doing today. >> they are doing much better. we will probably get some rain from the storm that is moving on up into oklahoma. we sure need the rain from the

drought. jenna: we knew how bad those wildfires were per year. we have had a lot of folks talking and weighing in about the speech. a lot of experts, if you will. political pundits. we have some great sound from two gentlemen in el paso, texas. i want to play their reaction for you and get a respse. >> i took my wife home from a dance, i raised one son, 34 years of marriage. it didn't change my mind. i was going to vote for him him anyway. but it made me understand that he had some of the same trials and tribulations that i did growing up. regardless of how much money he had. >> she didn't say a whole lot of things -- as far as issues, but i don't think that was her main concern. trying to create support and

enthusiasm for mitt romney. jenna: we have one voter that is in support of romney and one that is undecided. your response to their action when you think the republican party has to do next? >> i thought that ann romney did a super job. there was just a hush over the convention center. people really listening with anticipation about her telling about the man. mitt romney the husband, father, grandfather, and what kind of man he will be as president. she did a great job of that. the two gentlemen talked about how they were able to think about, connect, remember part of their growing up with their spouses and their families, and how ann romney related struggles and challenges, just like any married couple would. the same assaying came back to me. people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

ann romney was trying to show that mitt romney truly does care about america. he truly cares about his family. the way that he takes care of his family will be the way that he takes care of america. that is what people want to know. to have a president who will listen to their problems and try to find solutions. he is honestly a very successful businessman. he has been able to turn around the state and the olympics. he knows what he's doing. he takes charge. and i think she gave a great message last night. jenna: one of the conversation pieces that has come up, is a little concerned that maybe ann romney might outshine her husband. we hear that coming up in some conversations. you are a powerful woman. oklahoma does not have a first lady, and has her first husband at this point. how do you navigate that on a personal level is a woman that is in a position of power, and how do you think the republican party should navigate that to

give the american public to vote for ann romney and not just mitt romney. >> she tried to really connect that there is a personal side of him that can relate to regular people. struggles that people just have. tomorrow when mitt romney speaks, his job will be to show that strong leadership, a guy with big ideas and big solutions that will tackle the issues that are facing america, they want to see someone who understands their concerns and has the experience and the vision and leadership, and i think we will see that type of speech tomorrow night for mitt romney. jenna: how specific you want him to get what comes to policy and will policy? >> i think he needs to show a clear contrast were president obama has been taking our nation and where he will take her nation. many people are very concerned about the deficit and jobs and their children's future. concerned about the federal

government and the overreach. the growing size of the bureaucracy itself. mitt romney needs to distinguish himself. his vision for tomorrow, which he has with his platform, but he needs to tell that there will be a change and a difference. jenna: governor mary fallin, thank you so much. it's always a pleasure. jon: we've been talking to you about hurricane isaac and focusing on new orleans. but new orleans is not alone. louisiana and mississippi are also getting pounded. by this very slow, very large storm. slow-moving, i should say. we are going to take you live to mississippi and get an update with the head of emergency management they are. plus, new concerns about how rising gas prices and a hurricane in the gulf could impact oil markets, the economy, and the price you are paying when you fill up. that is ahead.

jon: right now a tornado warning in southern mississippi. flooding from hurricane isaac. the storm continues its slow crawl them on. isaac could dump nearly 2 feet of rain. major highways shut down because of storm surge and 4 feet deep in some low-lying areas right now. bill brown is in mississippi's emergency management staff, he was the operations chief during katrina. how is your state holding up right now? >> we are doing pretty good. we are meeting all expectations. we are taking a pretty good beating because of where the hurricane is actually located. we are now that direct southerly

wind that pushes the storm surge up into the base. looking at some of our higher surges. >> because of the way a hurricane spins, from high noon to 3:00 o'clock, that is were the worst the worst usually is. that is kind of where mississippi is sitting right now. >> that is where we are right now. we are looking hopefully soon to get out from underneath that. moving out to the northwest, not wishing bad luck on anyone else, but it would help us on our area that has been beaten. jon: what is the commendation of the effect effective high tiedemann sponsored? >> it just increases your surge

levels. we are looking at, and the biloxi area, right now, about to 7 feet of surge. going on in my st. louis, the way one area, it could be in excess of 90. jon: have you had good cooperation from folks? we have been hearing about folks who are under mandatory evacuation and i got trapped by rising floodwaters. what about in your states? >> we will never be satisfied with the number of people who decide not to evacuate. we have all three of our coastal counties during a mandatory evacuations. some of them waited until the very last minute, we have some pretty good evacuations and overall we are pleased with the results. jon: you have a big job and a big job still had. bill brown, mississippi's

emergency management chief of staff. thank you so much. we wish you well as you handle the storm. >> thank you. >> i have come here to seek a new beginning between the united states and muslims around the world. one based on mutual interest and mutual respect. one based upon the truth that america and islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. instead, they overlap. they share common principles. principles of justice and progress tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. jenna: justice and progress and tolerance. president speaking in cairo, egypt. this is before egypt's revolution and political transformation. it is still happening. once egypt was her strongest ally in the middle east. the newly elected president,

mohammed morsi is making a historic trip to tehran this week. his visit is marketing the first time that an egyptian head of state since 1979, they are close to a nuclear weapon. we are expecting to hear more about the gop policy from one of the former secretary of state, condoleezza rice. ambassador, does broadly speaking, what we are focused on domestic issues, what is happening overseas when it comes to iran? >> i think that iran is demonstrating this week that the administration's effort to isolate it internationally failed. hosting a movement. about 120 countries at the u.n. the new president of egypt banning the secretary general, i

think he you made a bad mistake, he is there will as well. they are showing up that they are not isolated internationally. we are expecting a new report from the energy agency that shows that they are still making progress on a nuclear weapons program. the iranian threat. jenna: under the bush administration's, one of the things that happen when she was in office was worth creating a nuclear weapon. north korea did this, despite sanctions put in place and spike talks. we have seen this play out what looks like playing out under a democratic administration. we have seen both parties follow a similar pattern. what should we be demanding of our next leader what comes to iran? >> well, unfortunately, we see american administrations that have not been applied comprehensively and vigorously.

states that seem to have nuclear weapons continue to make progress. now they are very serious about negotiations. there is not a chance to get either one of them out of their nuclear weapons ambitions. we have seen it with a lot of speculation with north korea, moving on to testing ballistic missiles. with the wrong growing ever close to themselves getting a nuclear weapon, we are in a very dangerous point internationally. the symbol of iran will only inspire others in the region. leading to a much more dangerous middle east. jenna: very interesting. we have so many more questions about what the direction of egypt is, what it means for israel, and unfortunately we are out of time right now.

good to have you back is alwayst >> thank you. jenna: we will be right back with more "happening now" call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. >> announcer: meet jill. she thought she'd feel better after seeing her doctor. and she might have, if not for kari, the identity thief who stole jill's social security number to open credit cards, destroying jill's credit and her dream of retirement. now meet amanda. with a swipe of her debit card, she bought some gas... and an all-expense-paid trip to hawaii for ben. ben is the intity thief who used a device called a skimmer to steal her formation from her card to open a fraudulent account. every year millions of americans just like you learn that a little personal information in the wrong hands could wre havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better

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call or go online now. [♪...] jon: reaction pouring in to and from his emotional speech at the republican convention last night. she had a big job ahead of her. trying to appeal to women voters by showcasing the mitt romney that she knows. describing a successful compassionate man who has also been a devoted husband and father. she even hit on the we built it

theme. >> mitt will be the first to say that he was the most fit and trim fortunate man in the world. he had loving parents who taught him the value of work. he had the chance to get the education his father never had. but to partner on this amazing journey, i can tell you that mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. jon: joining us now is juan williams. a fox news political analyst. he took some heat from last night because of your reaction to this speech. have you changed your view at all overnight? >> no, my criticism was aimed at the economics of the reality and the blessings that the romney's have had. they are not average americans in terms of their wealth by any stretch of the imagination. but the criticism, some people

think it was mrs. romney. that was just wrong. i think she's a great mom and wife. now she is a great, not only mother, my grandmother. i have to tell you that as a cancer survivor knows, and i am one of them, she has had struggles in terms of that health issue. no, this was intended as an analysis of the speech. i think in the economic realm, it was intended to appeal to american women were the romney campaign has a deficit right now. it would have been smarter in my mind she had been able to say that we know we are blood, but let me tell you how much we are doing for others. how generous we can be. the part of her speech that i liked the best was when she said please listen, i want you to pay attention. mitt doesn't like to talk about all he has done for others. but i'm going to tell you that he is a very generous man. that made sense to me. americans know that the romney's are extraordinarily rich people.

and i don't think you can say that we have had struggles like everyone else because people think -- i don't know that it's real. jon: she did make the point that when they started out, they were living in a basement apartment and he was getting a couple of graduate degrees. they were working hard and not necessarily -- i mean, they were living on a $250 million on 10-dollar fortunate that point. reporter: i think that we can agree on the reality of this. he is the son of a wealthy man who was a governor of michigan. and when she married mitt romney, mitt romney was getting a double degree in business from harvard university. that is pretty much in the elite. young couples moving into a basement apartment don't necessarily have that kind of economic backstop and support that the romney's were able to hack. i don't begrudge the him that. but if you are speaking to me, don't think that my husband is a

hard-nosed businessman who doesn't understand what is going on with other people -- don't say to me that their economics are my economics. i just don't think that's real. jon: one of the questions i have is whether the speech reached single women. republicans do better among married women, obviously, mrs. romney is married. but what did she say to appeal to single women that are out there struggling in this economy? reporter: yeah, i think that is part of my economic analysis of that speech. which is if you look at the polls right now. barack obama leads among sync on 10 single women. but if you look at married women, it's a split with romney having a slight advantage. the speech last night was intended to say to the women, married and single, don't think that mitt romney is out of touch with what is going on in your life or doesn't understand or have compassion.

empathy. that is where i didn't see it. it's not an approach that i would've taken to talk about such things. i would say we are blessed and fortunate and i want those blessings for other people and my husband is the kind of guy that can deliver and solve problems and he has been compassionate. i have seen it. i have seen what he's done for others the. jon: juan williams, fox news political analyst. good to have you on. jenna: louisiana seeing some of the worst of hurricane isaac. that causing problems for much of the gulf coast. not just louisiana or new orleans. but we will have a live update from alabama straight ahead. and if you are far from the goal, you could still build the impact of isaac. but at the gas pump. taking a look at what the storm could mean for some gas prices that are already moving higher

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think it is still a category one hurricane and moving slowly. a lot attention to here. by the time it moves out, new orleans could get hit with nearly 2 feet of rain. plus you have that storm surge. the reinforced levee system is working so far, but we have heard of some flooding and rescues meeting to take place. we have a commander of the eighth coast guard district in new orleans. we heard from her yesterday. joining us again today. what we know about rescue right now. are there reports? you know of people that are trapped in their homes? >> good morning, jenna. there are search and rescue elements that are being worked, and that element is a multijurisdictional buffer. we have perished and state and coast guard and louisiana national guard that are all working. right now they're our neighbors and individuals in the parish that are working together to help each other.

we still have hurricane conditions in louisiana. as we move out of this phase where we hunker down for moving into the response phase, we will be assessing it. there are people helping the folks in louisiana. jenna: how many reports to half of people trapped? >> we have heard a few reports working through the function, which is, like i said, a multi- agency group. with the state doc, they are going to get down there and coordinate pair. neighbors helping neighbors at this point in time because you have winds that are still just coming off -- hurricane force winds. jenna: so you have not been able

to fully deploy your resources for lack of a better word? >> that is correct. we are starting to work our way from east to west and working as a group. but we have had great coordination between the parish emergency operations center and they are all working together under something called emergency support function nine, which is search and rescue. jenna: we are honestly paying close attention to the conditions outside. maybe we are moving into the different phase of the storm. but i know you are paying close attention to the water levels as well. what can you tell us about water levels right now, and how concerned are you about a storm surge. >> as this storm moves, it is in the vicinity of thibodeau, louisiana, it is moving northwesterly. we are feeling a little bit better that some of these water levels are going to start coming

down. for instance, we had water coming up the mississippi river, and it was pushing up quite a bit and we expect that to start falling back out. i think we are going to see the wind affect a change in the next several hours. so i don't know that it's going to get any worse to the east of us. we are just going to walk into the west. jenna: edwin nash, we really appreciate your time and expertise area thank you so much. >> thank you, jenna be one hurricane isaac is sparking new worries about the oil markets. as you know, a lot of rigs in the gulf had to shut down because of that oncoming hurricane. this comes as gas prices spiked upwards. the national average of $2.80 per gallon of regular. that is up roughly a nickel from yesterday. the white house is watching closely, saying all options are on the table when it comes to

the strategic petroleum reserve. peter barnes with the fox business network and watching all of us live from washington. peter, what can you tell us? >> the gulf accounts for 20% of total u.s. oil production and about 7% of natural gas. the government says that isaac has disrupted about 93% of oil and 67% of natural gas production. as for that critical refining capacity, the government estimates the storm has cut production by more than 900,000 barrels per day. about 12% of total capacity. all of this did send the prices a bit. but fortunately, isaak largely missed the production platforms so there has been little damage to them. and oil prices have actually come down on that news. news yesterday that crude inventories are actually much higher than expected. for now, analysts say that will lessen any need to tap the strategic petroleum reserve.

>> just look at the market. it indicates that the market is adequately supplied. there will not be a release at this time. jon: the government has released plenty of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve because of hurricanes. 11 million barrels in 2005 when katrina slammed into the gulf coast, extensively damaging rigs and refineries. such releases have helped to lower oil prices in the short term. jon: peter barnes at the fox business network, thank you. jenna: governor romney's running mate, paul ryan, front and center tonight. he's going to take the rnc stage and make the case for becoming the next vice president. we have a live report from tampa, florida just ahead

jon: the state of alabama may have escaped the worst of hurricane isaac, but the big problem is flooding. coastal areas could see up to 8 feet of storm surge. that is in addition to nearly a foot of rain. we will talk with the vice chief of staff and spokesman for alabama's national guard. i know from covering hurricanes that it can often take a while to get the damage assessments in. you have power out, people can't call. you can't get helicopters in the area to look things over. based on what you have seen and heard, how is your state doing? >> good morning, and thank you for having me here this morning. i also want to let you know that we are thinking about and praying for our neighbors. people that are really impacted by the storm.

i know that they would do the same for us. right now, we are looking at the mobile and baldwin county areas. awkward position is to provide good care. we are looking at everything that has occurred in the beach area and everywhere else. what we are seeing is the typical plumbing that would occur with any storm that we have seen in the past. power outages. we are one of the fortunate states. we are typically prepared. we respond to many disasters. whenever they occur within a state. we also stand ready to assist other states as they do for us. jon: the biggest problem is what? a storm surge? is in the ring? is an accommodation of both?

>> basically, i would say it is a common nation of both. the storm surge and the rain -- mobile has its own flooding. it's not like we are not prepared for such an event that could happen. we have everything in the state and county level. they were totally prepared to respond and assist. jon: how would you compare it to what happened during katrina seven years ago? >> it's difficult to make that comparison. it is a very large storm, as you know, and alabama did receive some damage in mobile and other counties. 600 guardsmen were in south alabama. they provided aid and assistance to louisiana. the 2400 personnel in those states -- they were worse off

than we were at that time. jon: nobody is more prepared than in the national guard. you guys do great work and we are all very grateful for the hand that you land in situations like that. colonel, thank you so much. jenna: it is definitely an emergency. >> it's nice to see those uniforms out there. jenna: congressman paul ryan is gearing up for his speech. governor romney's running mate will tell you that the room will be full. the one you're seeing on your screen. trying to talk more about what he will accomplish politically. these are some questions we are going to tackle next. >> we can do better, we can do a lot better.

>> no one will move heaven and earth to make this country a better place in the zürich. >> this is the man america needs. >> america needs met ronnie and paul ryan, and we need them right now. >> it was exactly what republicans have been trying out for. >> i thought he was utterly credible and very powerful. >> continuing coverage of the republican national convention.

jenna: hurricane isaac battering southeastern louisiana seven years after hurricane cat katrina 500,000 people without power at this time. something else we are watching is the dangerous storm surge and threats of flooding from heavy rains. likely we expect those to continue throughout the day, although we just heard from the coast guard they are hoping maybe there is a shift in the weather and things will look better. we are glad you are with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. high water is already topping at least one levee in a low-lying rural area south of new orleans. authorities say about a dozen people who had been told to evacuate are now trapped and

node to b need to be rest viewed. some homes may be flooded as well. the national weather service rorg more than 9 inches of rain in 24 hours. bummed inks in the downtown area don't appear to have suffered any significant damage. the eye of this slow moving storm located 50 miles south, southwest of new orleans. low-lying areas along mississippi's gulf coast are under several feet of water, while thousands wait out the storm in shelters. we have live fox team coverage, janice dean in the extreme weather center for us. steve harrigan live in ocean springs, mississippi. let's go to steve first. steve. >> jon, we are in the backyard of the waylan family who has been kind enough to invite us in. the cameraman is on the roof. we want to give you perspective on what this storm is doing, the surge. this is the backyard where i'm standing right now.

if rich can pan out a little bit you can see how much things are beginning to disappear along the mississippi coast. their backyard is gone. the park behind their yard is gone. part of washington afternoon is gone. the entire coastal road along that road is gone. biloxi bay is a lot higher than the streets behind it. it's a real concern for rescue operations. we've seen some of the national guard come through here. for the most part they are in humvees, water rescue teams much more limited in supply. the national guard is going door to door looking for people who might be drowning or need help, evacuation, but there are only limits as to how far they can go in those vehicles. there are some areas right now, which are shut off due to the closure of i90. some of these smaller towns it's hard to get to. 14,000 people without electricity. you can imagine being put off by water from aid, being without electricity, a tough day for many people here in southern

mississippi. back to you. jon: it's my understanding that we have already passed high tide there for the morning. is the water still rising? i mean is that storm surge still coming up there where you are in mississippi? >> certainly high tide passed by 11, but we are still seeing a rise in water. many of these houses around me were completely destroyed in hurricane katrina seven years ago. they've build them up much higher, much stronger now but they are still coming under threat because this water is continuing to rise. we're getting heavy rain throughout the morning, rain which could continue another two or three days. some real problems which could get worse in the short term despite high tide having already passed, jon. jon: steve harrigan, another crazy assignment there for you. steve thank you. jenna: did steve say whether or not the family evacuated that gave him permission? we might have to ask him there. >> i'm still here if you want to hear it. their house is built up about 30 bricks of brick.

they are still in the house and watching closely like many of their neighbors. they've been through destruction before, they've learned their lesson, they built a brick house this time around. they are hoping they will be safe. their watermelon crop this year is pretty much done for. jenna: we are lucky to get perspective from their home. jon: let's get steve some scuba gear for the next shot. jenna: that's for sure. janice dean is standing by with us as well. what is next? >> reporter: do not try that at home, a disclaimer. jenna: only steve harrigan. >> reporter: war zones, absolutely, only steve harrigan. i spend most of my career telling people not to do that kind of stuff, but he is safe, of course, just, you know, telling you how much flooding they are getting in that area. jenna, as steve mentioned this is a slow-moving storm. that is the worst of this. it's still a category one hurricane but it's going to bring relentless rain, relentless wind and surge along

a very vulnerable coastline here. there is the storm very much intact 12 hours later, which is quite unbelievable in some case. typically you see these hurricanes make landfill and zip northward, not this one. this has kind of hunk erred down for the next 12 to 24 hours. we do have the threat for tornadoes unfortunately eastern portions of louisiana through mississippi and alabama, and we do have a tornado warning, this is very recent, just heading towards the bay st. louis area. if you live in this area across mississippi you want to take shelter immediately. and some of these can be rain-wrapped tornadoes, make sure you have your noaa weather radios on battery opted of course. we did get a new advisory moments ago. they are updating us every hour. still a hurricane, as you can still see very slow moving across the state of louisiana for the next few days, and then it's eventually going to move into the midwest where it will

bring some beneficial moisture. we have to get through really the next several days across portions of the gulf coast. here is what we're dealing with in terms of impacts today. hurricane winds will continue throughout the day today. it's going to be a long duration event. that is the main point i want to bring home here, wind and rain for a very long period of time, major flooding up to 20 inches of rain, they've already received over 9 inches of rain in the new orleans area. still looking at a 6 to 12-foot storm surge for mississippi and southeastern louisiana. flash flooding well inland. so freshwater flooding is going to be a problem well inland. the positive side, as i mentioned, we're going to get much needed rain across portions of arkansas and the midwest. again, right now concentrating on the state of louisiana, mississippi, alabama where they are under tornado watch and we continue to see rain falling across areas that just don't need to see it right now. back to you. jenna: a little while to wait before we can say we're through

this one. >> reporter: absolutely the next 2 24, 24, 36 hours. back to you. jenna: become to tampa the republican convention where there are big, big names tonight to follow last night head hraoeurpbs, oheadliners, that was ann romney and governor chris christie, their jobs are done. tonight we have john mccain. former arkansas governor mike huckabee. former secretary of state condoleezzaa rice. all eyes will be on vice-presidental nominee paul ryan. the congressman will introduce himself to america on his biggest stage yet. it's like a baseball line up as we have to give these out every day. bathing third. james rosen is live from the republican convention in tampa with more on what we'll see this evening. high, james. >> reporter: jenna good afternoon. as a congressman for 14 years and chairman of the house budget committee paul ryan has given literally thousand ofs of

speeches in his career on and off the house floor. tonight will be a speech like no other for him because his audience for the first time will be truly national in scope. 20million listeners. ryan has been working on this estimated 30-minute address every day since his selection to the g.o.p. ticket was announced on august the 11th. he composed much of the speech himself in longhand, that he practiced with tell louisiana prompters placed at the exact distance that he will confront tonight during a rest spite in jamesville. we spoke with a top adviser to congressman ryan who left one of the prep sessions for the congressman to tell fox news what we can expect in pwraoeupl time tonight. crime time tonight. >> i think you'll hear a lot of jamesville, a lot of where he tkpwopls from and who he is. a sear just deconstruction of the obama record and agenda. and the case for mitt romney. he has seen mitt romney up close, he's spent a lot of time

talking about mitt romney, about his philosophy of governing. he understands mitt romney's experience. congressman ryan is passionate about mitt romney's story. he believes that the free market system works and mitt romney is a case study in how building businesses, and turning around businesses and success in the private sector can make a difference in the public sector. >> reporter: all right you're looking live now at the floor and the stage of the rnc convention here in tampa. there is a big media scrum going down as you can see. a few moments ago we did get word that congressman ryan was expected to case the venue a little bit, show up and prowl a bit about on the stage sort of the way that ollie and frazier used to visit madison square garden and test out the ring ropes right before the big fight. it's something speakers do before conventions to get acquainted with the venue. if we see ryan were any time soon we'll be telling you. jenna: maybe he'll lead knew a p90 session.

>> lord knows after all the convention food i've eaten i could use it. jenna: you look great as always and a great report. james rosen on the floor there in tampa. if paul ryan does step to the mike we'll bring you back there for that. jon: on more from what we can expect on paul ryan's big speech tonight let's bring in steven hayes senior writer for "the weekly standard" and a fox news contributor. you and "the weekly standard" combined to break the news that this guy was going to be chosen as the vice-presidental nominee by mitt romney. having broken that news can you break some news about what he's going to say tonight? >> well, no, i can't. i think what you heard from dan is right. it's going to be a combination of a biography about his time growing up in james villain also an indictment of the obama administration. paul ryan has been one of the leading critics of president obama from the beginning. he's always done it with a smile on his face because that's who he is. his substantive criticisms have

nonetheless been very tough and we'll hear that again tonight. jon: he is concerned obviously about the budget and entitlement reform in this country. those are things that had him considering his own presidential run. why did he decide not to run. >> he gave it a much harder look than most people anticipated or understand. he consulted with pollsters, he talked to his family extensively about this. he talked to longtime mentor bill bennett and others about a run and ultimately decided this is not a guy who wakes up every morning and thinks, i want to be president of the united states, and he thought he could make his greatest impact by remaining in the house and/or advising whoever decided to run and get the republican nomination. jon: in some respects he's got the best of both worlds. he has that national prom nance now to trprom nance to try to make changes to the issues that

he seems to be so heartfelt about. >> he does. look it's hard toefr state how important it was that he went through this process last summer. he was comfortable joining the ticket. i think most people, most politicians if you're asked to join a ticket as a running mate are going to say yes. paul ryan having overcome some of the concerns that he had about running when he decided not to run last august, he told me in an interview back in may that he got comfortable with the idea of being on a national ticket. jon: and he seems to have energized mitt romney and the campaign. i mean the polls have certainly tight end up, the romney versus obama polls have tightened up a lot since paul ryan joined the ticket. >> there is no question about that. we saw that before paul ryan was picked, and i think it's one of the reasons that paul ryan was chosen. there was this period a week or ten days before the wisconsin primary on april 3rd when paul ryan and mitt romney stormed around the state of wisconsin and did a series of events. it started out with paul ryan

just introducing mitt romney and then mitt romney himself asked the staff to put out another chair and another microphone for paul ryan so that ryan might join him on stage, and the last four of their presentations they were essentially working together, and everybody in the traveling press, those advising mitt romney and others saw a different mitt romney than they did when he was out there on his own. jon: it will be fascinating to hear him speak tonight. the previously, relatively unknown congressman even though he is the head of the budget committee. steven hayes from "the weekly standard," thank you. jenna: a lot of new information coming in about damage from hurricane isaac. some areas completely underwater as you saw our steve harrigan there moments ago. hundreds of thousands of people in our country without power because of this storm. some we hear also trapped in flooded homes. we are just getting some information about rescues, and whether or not they are happening at this time. we have live team fox coverage all day right here on fox news. jon: also a pitched battle for control of the senate underway

in many key battleground states, not just between parties but even within parties. we'll talk about senate republican leader jon kyl straight ahead. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jenna: america's election headquarters bringing you the best political coverage out there. while we've been following the republican convention we are looking ahead for the race. there was a key contest decided yesterday in arizona which could affect the balance of power in the senate. that's one of the races we're watching, is in arizona. the democrats hold a slim majority with 51 seats plus two independents. republicans with 47 seats are hoping to pick up four seats in november. one of the questions that comes up during the convention and the races happening in different states is the tension not only between democrats and republicans but within the republican party itself.

that's something we want to talk more about with senator kyl, the senate minority whip. he joins us now from tampa. senator kyl glad to have you back on the program. >> thanks, great to be with you. jenna: one of the things you told the hill is quite telling about how you feel about the state of the republican party within your state of arizona. you say, quote, i wish i could tell you we were doing well right now, we're not. ron paul has totally taken our party over. tell us more about that. why do you feel that way? >> i did not say that, and he has not taken the republican party over. as a matter of fact, we have a very unified delegation here in tampa, and i met with them this morning. we had a good conversation with some of the people who had supported ron paul. everybody is together in support of mitt romney. our party is not in as strong a position as it should be, and i did say that, because we've not been able to put forth the leadership or raise the funds that we had been able to do in the past.

i think we'll rectify that. this primary election we had last night will unify us now and we'll go forward and certainly in the seat that i currently hold we are going to elect congressman jeff flake who won his primary last night and that will be a good start to the efforts. jenna: the hill has you quoted directly about that comment on ron paul. we wanted to make sure we got your response to that. condoleezzaa rice by the way is on stage doing a little practice, some of our viewers are seeing that. one of the things that our viewers are talking a lot about, senator kyl, is again looking at the republican party, some are coming out in tweets and saying, listen this is the rnc power grab with some things that have happened on the floor, rule changes, things like that. you've been in the marty for a longtime and in office for a longtime, how does the republican party show a more united front? >> i'm not sure it would be possible to show a more united front than we are right now. you saw last night a convention just really in love with ann romney. my wife attended a breakfast

this morning. she said if anything ann and her family was even more heartily welcomed by the folks at the breakfast. the point is that we are united behind romney and ryan as an incredible ticket for president and vice president of the united states. i see no dissension in that whatsoever. in our primaries -- sure, go ahead. jenna: one of our panelists last night brought up an interesting point related to ann romney's speech last night and chris christie as well. she said, both speeches really told a story about immigration in the family, how both of their families came to the united states, set up shop and started out. but her criticism, this panelist was that the republican party really hasn't addressed immigration so far in this campaign, and you're from a state where immigration is a big issue. how do you think the republicans should tackle it? >> first of all, the bulk of the american people are most concerned about the lack of jobs in the country, the poor

economic performance, the inability of the president to solve any of these problems, in fact he's made them worse, not better, and immigration and some of the other issues have really receded to a secondary level. now in a state like mine in arizona we are still very concerned about the amount of illegal immigration and the inability that the department of homeland security has to tackle it in the proper way. it's not an issue lee divide greatly divides us. we have a great hispanic population in our state. i was glad to see the showcasing of many of our hispanic office holders on the floor last night, to put them forth to demonstrate that the republican party has some great leaders, some great governors, and some great congressman. we've got a great senator in marco rubio that you're going to hear introduce governor romney tomorrow night. stkwrao we are looking for him on the floor right now. >> he's just getting rid. my point is, we are

demonstrating by electing great hispanics, to public office that we are a broad party, a representative party and that we can a pole to hispanics as well as the democratic party. jenna: senator kyl when is the final day of work, you're going on retirement. do you know the final day? >> i think it's january 3rd. i'm not exactly sure. i know i'll be working right up to the last minute. that's for sure. jenna: a lot of weeks and months ahead. we look forward to having you back on the program between now and then and look forward to your retirement because then you have all the time in the world to talk to us. >> i'm going back to the private sector, i'm not retiring yet. a lot of us republicans believe in the private sector. jenna: thanks for your time today. >> you bet. jon: we are taking an in-depth look at some of the critical battleground states in this coming election. today we will look at colorado. which candidate has the better chance of winning the nine electoral votes available in that state? plus, hurricane isaac causing ebbs tensive damage stranding

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jon: let's take a look at one of the 12 key battleground states in the race for the white house. it's one i know well, because it's the place i was born and lived the first half of my life. we are talking about colorado. colorado is a state that has voted republican in six out of the last eight elections, but if you take a look at the electoral votes there, nine available, and both sides think that if they can put colorado in their column they may be able to go on and victorious in this upcoming presidential election. if you take a look at the unemployment rate in colorado it mirrors the national average, 8.3%.

the history of visits by the presidential candidates, president obama has been there six times, mitt romney four times. of course it was in colorado that president obama was nominated at the democratic convention four years ago. in terms of the polls, well the "real clear politics" average has president obama at 47.6%, mitt romney enjoying the support of 46% of the colresidents. let's talk about it with allison sheri, the dc correspondent for the denver post and joins us now. allison, i read an interesting piece in the post the other day that ace although president obama won the state by about 4 percentage points over john mccain, it's a much tighter race this time around, and one projection has mitt romney taking colorado. can you talk about that a little bit? >> i think that it's very close right now. i think -- the polls i've seen are one or two percentage points

apart. mitt romney was very popular four years ago in colorado but he actually didn't win the primary, rick santorum won the primary. i do think it's going to be close because the state has suffered unemployment, it mirrors the nation. i don't think that the obama campaign or the romney campaign are taking it for granted. jon: what are the driving issues in colorado right now? >> i mean i don't think it's any different than the rest of the country. i think jobs. there is a lot of energy jobs there. there are natural gas developments, there are coal mines, i i think people think about education. but mostly people think about the economy. people want to feel good about next year, they want to feel good about five years from now. they want to be able to send their kids to college and feel like everything is going in the right direction. jon: with 8.3% unemployment, i mean there are some states where the numbers are lower, ohio being one of them, another one of the critical swing states,

but colorado is right there along with the rest of the nation with a very high unemployment rate. >> it is, it is. and that's why i think it's such a battleground state. i also think people in the suburbs -- the suburbs in particular are where it's going to be won or lost. suburban women, particularly is a block that is gettable i think at this point. jon: jefferson county, maybe larimer county in the north where fort collins is, those are the place wres this campaign, this state and maybe this whole election are going to be won or lost. >> right, and it's often women making these decisions on the future and feeling -- see if they feel good about the future of the country, they feel good about the direction that the country is going for their kids, and, you know, that's where you're going to see both the obama campaign and the romney campaign target. obama has been targeting young voters. he was in fort collins

yesterday, he's going back next week to boulder where the university of colorado is. you can see where obama is trying to leverage his voters and romney has gone to some rural areas where he's trying to leverage his. jon: everywhere you see president obama trying to appeal to young voters you see the romney campaign coming right in with full-page ads talking about the unemployment rate among young people and how its even higher than it is for the nation's workforce as a whole. >> that's right. i think on college campuses that could resonate, right? because these are students who need to get out. they are going to have student loans and debts. they care about jobs as well. i'm not saying anything brilliant, but i'm saying it is the economy, it is jobs, that's what everybody cares about from the college students all the way up to the suburban moms. jon: so allison you work for the denver post, you're the d.c. correspondent. i imagine you're living in foggy bottom, right.

>> i live in washington. i miss colorado every day. i'm going to be back covering the election for about eight weeks from the spring state itself because there is more happening there than in washington. jon: i'm with you. i miss it like crazy. thank you. jenna: what we are getting is another live shot. where is marco rubio, senator rubio is going to be speaking tonight. we saw condoleezzaa rice taking in what it looks like from the po podium up there. we will need to get a good camera shot from behind the microphone to get a sense of what they are actually seeing up there. it must be pretty intimidating. senator rubio has talked in front of quite a few people before, this is a big event tonight. he'll be introducing paul ryan. he's one of the headliners, and someone we're going to be waiting and watching for. he's getting a little direction there from the guy with the headphones. we know ourselves you've got to listen to the guy with the headphones. jon: also pay attention to the technical staff. they can make you or break you. jenna: 100%. we will move from tampa back to what is happening in louisiana. we are getting a report from the

"associated press" that there are nooyi evacuate waeugss ordered in plaquemines parish. tore repbgs rains, storm surges, dangerous winds and evacuations. the levees in the city are holding so far. a live report from that area ahead. also the republican national convention in full swing. how is the media covering the speeches so far? are you getting a good look out there at what is really going on? we'll take a closer look just ahead.

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call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. jenna: a fox news alert from louisiana. the associated press says that new evacuations are being ordered for plaquemines parish. we don't have video of this exact area. we had heard additional records that some folks are still in their homes and may be trapped. we talked to the coast guard the last hour and the admiral told us that because of the conditions, the coast guard hasn't been able to get up in the helicopters and checkout areas like plaquemines parish. right now, still reports coming in that folks are still in their houses. we don't know how many. a mandatory evacuation was in that area.

new evacuation orders are being made. as we hear more about this developing situation, we will bring you that information. jon: the mainstream media taking aim at republicans during the convention. many are criticizing ann romney's speech, last and what she had to say about the struggles that women in this country face. on nbc, brian williams peppered florida republican senator marco rubio with a lot of negative questions about the todd akin controversy. the general tone and language of the republican platform. in the meantime, a lot of grumbling over chris christie's keynote speech. attacking the rousing performance has been too much about him. let's take a look at the coverage. charlie hearst is a columnist for the washington times. he joins us from tampa, florida. you are there at the convention. as the coverage that you have seen so far of last night's event but accurately what

happened? >> well, you know, it is amazing. we see this level of cynicism next week in charlotte, i will be pretty surprised, jon. we have not seen this level at all in the past four years. at least not from the mainstream media. this notion of attacking ann romney. she gave a very good speech. this notion suggesting that somehow because of romney, we are successful -- somehow they don't understand struggles and they don't understand what it's like. she doesn't understand what it's like to be a woman and a mother. it is just preposterous. we see it on all the networks. it is just relentless. the attacker. they attacked mitt romney. it is absolutely amazing. especially when you consider that they haven't brought this level of questioning and cynicism to the white house.

jon: she did make the point that life has not been a cakewalk for her and her husband. play a bit of that and another question on the other side. >> the last few years have been harder than they needed to be. it's the little thing. the price at the pump you just can't believe, grocery bills would get bigger. all of those things that used to be free like school sports and one more bill to pay. it is all the little things that become big things. the big things in the big jobs, the chance at college come home you want to buy, it just gets harder. everything has become harder. jon: she is speaking on behalf of women and really families all over america who are having trouble making ends meet in this economy. yet so many in the mainstream media have said ann romney, what you know about trying to pay for groceries. >> obviously she was not talking about herself. but you know what? she wasn't talking about barack obama either.

he has not been struggling either. but i don't think barack obama -- if he made those statements and made that important point trying to convey what he learned by talking to voters, that he would be attacked for not really understanding what it's like to struggle like that. i do not believe that the media gets that and says what kind of democrats and help obama today? i think it is an ill of inability to get below the surface and they may oh, well, this guy is rich in and this guy is something else. obviously, the rich guy can't relate on a debate on the economy. it is just laughable. it is such a superficial sort of way to cover things. really, that is what we get to them. and that's what we've gotten from them for a long time as the one fox news to the pool. i'm sorry i don't have a graphic

to show viewers today. but last week we took a poll and ask people who responded to the think the media wants to win the election. 60% said they the media wants barack obama to win. 15% said mitt romney. clearly, viewers out there see some level of disparity in the kind of coverage that the campaign gets. >> they absolutely do. a lot of people are not particularly press savvy or media savvy. they don't read the papers every day. but it doesn't matter. when somebody is telling the line of the campaign. it becomes very clear. and people sense that they are very good at separating the wheat is that as of this reason why the internet has been very good for conservatives it suddenly has allowed conservatives in all these other ways to reach people. people are really good about discerning. there are some cases where people don't, but people do

discern. they discern what is true and what is other nonsense and where reporters are trying to put screwball. >> we will see where the coverage goes from here on out. charlie hearst, thank you so much. did you we keep hearing from you that the economy is what it's all about. let's look at what is happening on wall street. this is normally a quiet week on wall street. preceding the labor day holiday. between april and june, our economy grew at an annual rate of 1.7%. this is the second of three readings that were going to get on gdp. now it is lightly higher, .7%. you're going to get the final data at the end of this, but this reading that we have had still below 2%. it means that significant job growth is still not happening. important numbers.

jon: a behind-the-scenes look of the republican convention courtesy of twitter. the story behind this. governor romney looking on as his wife spoke. that is ahead. also, we are tracking a slow moving here in jan hurricane isaac, already doing aillion dollars worth of damage. those are the estimates. the flooding is trapping people the flooding is trapping people in their homes. the woods yet. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? itust came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! jenna: right now we will look at the impact of social media on the 2012 campaign. a lot of folks get their news from twitter or facebook. and that has affected politics this time around. this is the first election where so many parts of social media are really relevant. we wanted to show you this picture of governor romney that you might not have seen. he is looking on backstage at the convention as his wife is giving her big speech.

this is where he was. this was posted by a campaign aide. a digital director for the romney-ryan campaign joins us now. what is the strategy for you guys? >> you know, i think that we look for opportunities to use media as often as possible. we find that social media is really a powerful medium to achieve that speak to one of the things you can do with twitter is see the trends happen right before your eyes. about how people are reacting to the different parts in speeches like the ones we saw last night. what did you see last night? >> it was amazing. we saw 6195 tweets per minute when the governor walked on the stage. the single highest point of the night. also, people responded to things. more tweets are happening in a one-hour period and all of 2008. people are really engaging over twitter and it really shows. jenna: one of the things that

charlie hearst has told us, the use of social media is leveling the playing field. so folks can shop around for information easier than just turning to a couple of sources of news. how do you feel about that? what's your opinion on that? >> i think we are just as much other points of friction to get information. what you're really seeing is conservatives are embracing facebook and twitter. it allows us to kind of engaged and refine success by actual engagement. it is one of those drivers. we see for governor romney and congressman ryan, honestly, huge amount of interest across the board. jenna: argue the guy that is lurking in the corner, taking notes and photos? >> come on, they must be staged. >> know, those tend to be from the guy who gets to spend the most time with the governor. but we have people all over. i think what twitter and facebook allow is accurate.

a different portrayal of the campaign, an unfiltered look at how a campaign operates. that is why so many people gravitate toward the. jenna: rick folbaum was doing coverage last night. they snapped a photo of me taking a nap for the coverage. i wasn't so happy about that. interesting to see what you guys are looking at things and interesting to talk out the democrats and how they are approaching things. >> thank you for having me. jon: hurricane isaac is sweeping over the gulf coast, producing a dangerous storm surge and widespread flooding. you're why one university student says he would rather weather the storm instead of evacuating. i was teaching a martial arts class and having a heart attack.

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jon: hurricane isaac is

drenching the gulf coast right now. hitting the area with 70 miles an hour winds. at one levy has failed and trapping dozens in their homes. despite of the possibility of more damage to come, some residents say they are not going anywhere. >> the levee system and all that, i think they could do better. jon: our next guest is also staying put. it is his first hurricane. collin chanel is a student in new orleans. he joins us over the phone. we have sort of a personal connection. i used to coach you in new york in little league baseball a decade or two ago. i'm not sure how long ago allies. now you are there. your folks dropped you off for your first semester and all of a sudden you have a hurricane? how are you handling it? >> i am handling it. i'm a bit tired at the moment, but i am surviving. jon: you are were supposed to be

in class by now? >> yes, i was supposed to be in class. classes are canceled until next tuesday at the moment. jon: i guess you don't get to sleep in your dorm rooms because they are classmate on the glass imploding on the students. what are you doing? >> at around 3:00 o'clock in the morning, we slept in the halls. a nice concrete floor for my back. [laughter] jon: nice way to start your college career. >> exactly. [laughter] jon: at least this one is no hurricane katrina. there must be people that told you what happened at tulane when hurricane katrina went through. >> yes, definitely everyone was concerned. because it is the anniversary -- the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. everyone is taking very cautionary measures. the university has done an

excellent job of handling it. jon: is it scary? i'm assuming it's your first hurricane. >> yes, it is definitely something i've never experienced before. these winds are pretty brutal. i've never seen trees been like this in my entire life. jon: well, we hope that this hurricane isaac blows over and get out of there so that you can get on with your college career at tulane. collin chanel, thank you so much for talking with us. >> thank you. i really appreciate you having me. have a good one be to college is all about learning different things in different ways. jon: also new challenges. jenna: as we continue to attract hurricane isaac, we have live pictures as well from gulfport, mississippi. it is hard to make it out there. our viewers in the gulf coast are sending is very dramatic photos of the storm. we will share some of the images and what you are seeing on the ground coming up next.

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what's your policy? jenna: hurricane isaac still a very dangerous storm. you're seeing live pictures there. gulfport, mississippi on one side of your screen. we really appreciate it when viewers help us tell the stories that i really affecting this country. we have a few on the storm. this first one from mobile, alabama. sent to us by lucie moore, thank you to lucie. it shows the flooded bay way yesterday. probably worse today. we have a couple of pictures from fou foruchon, louisiana. pwa lockbowboloxsi,

mississippi, is where we head next. it was hit very hard by cat katrina, seven years ago to the day. we want to show videos. bill: everyone has the iphone and cameras, they can upload that stuff. jenna: you tape it. we'll edit it. you go to foxnews.com you report. what is happening in your streets, if you have the hurricane video that is great. if you want to weigh in and tell us what you think about the speeches tonight, we'll talk about them tomorrow. bill: a view of this 400-mile across hurricane. hurricane isaac as it barrels into the gulf coast there. it's really been in my lifetime that we've been able to get these pictures from space, one of the side benefits of the space program is to be able to get these pictures. jenna: did we hear yesterday san francisco to los angeles, 400 miles wid