hurricane isaac is still making his presence felt at this very hour. thank you so much for joining us this hour. i'm tamron hall live not very far from the french quarters in new orleans where we've been stationed for several days. just literally in the commercial break, another heavy hit from isaac came to this area. want to send it to where we're focusing right now, plaque nins parish the site where we hoped we would not see people being rescued after being trapped in their homes. gabe gutierrez is standing by. how many rescues have taken place? >> we're an here on the east bank of the parish where the national guard is on the move. within the past few moments, governor bobby jindal said officials where is considering whether to intentionally breach part of the levee system in order to release some of the water. agencies from across the are helping out officials here in

plaque mince parish. sheriff, what can you tell us about the rescue operation at this point? >>.around 3:00 a.m. this morning, we was contacted by some officials here in plaque mince parish, and told us that they were having some problems with tidal flooding and overtopping the levee system, which caused some serious flooding in their jurisdiction. >> how many people have been rescued so far and how many people have yet to be rescued? >> not quite sure how many is left out there. well over 30 people we saw come in this morning that was brought to our jail where they were sheltered and fed. >> the. the parish president did say that the situation here at least in some parts was worse than hurricane katrina. what do you think? what do you see as the situation being here? >> yeah, he's exactly right. i know he's been fighting for flood protection for his parish for a very long time. and i think we have flowed protection here today since katrina to protect st. bernard

parrish rish and the effects that we see today simply was a hurricane isaac, but they see the effects of i a hurricane katrina just across the flood wall. >> sheriff, thank you so much for joining us. good luck today. again governor bobby jindal says officials are thinking of intentionally breaching part of the levee. rescue crews, the national guard are still trying to rescue dozens of people who may be trapped behind that flood wall. tamron? >> were gabe, thank you very much. ken holder is with the arm corps of engineers. help me understand what's happening in plaque mince parish. that is not a part of the federal rally funded levee that was fortified for new orleans, right? >> that's exactly right. that's a private levee and they're working on that trying to get it to where they need to get it. >> the u.s. army corps of engineers may still it be involved in this idea of breaching the levee if the

governor decides to move. >> what will end up happening, they'll come to us and ask us if we're willing to do that. we'll look at every way possible to unwater that the area. >> meaning pumping? >> it could be pumping water out, a number of things. we're going to do what's the safest and best for the individuals in that area. >> let me transition to the levees protecting new orleans. the governor, the mayor all saying this is how it's supposed to work. we've not seen any major issues here. >> that's exactly right. even today we worked very closely. yesterday i told you we worked closely with the sewage and water boards and other folks pumping into the system so we can pump out. it's worked so far. we had a couple of pumps go down. able to get them back online. it's working really, really well. >> obviously, we're going through another wave here. you're confident and the army corps of engineers is actually opening i believe you told me it's the largest pump in the world? >> largest pump station in the world down in plaque mince parish. takes away 26 miles worth of

interior protection features and provides it right there at the gulf intercoast waterways. we'll fill a swimming pool in four seconds. >> i've got congressman jeff landry on the line. thank you for your time. >> great to be with you, tamron. >> reporter: absolutely. what is your concern right now, sir? >> well, you know, our biggest concern right now is the slow movement of the storm and the amount of flooding it could cause as well as the sustained high winds that we're getting. you know, part of the district i represented has rl been improkted it, plaque mince, st. bernard, possible st. charles, areas inundated with four major hurricanes over the last ten years so the people out there are resilient and want to make the federal government is will to support whatever they need. >> sir, you know, this is not the image anyone wanted to see. to be rescued by the coast guard or police agencies. there was a mandatory evacuation

in place for about 7,000 people. i heard what had to be one of the most heartbreaking interviews today, a man hiding with his family had gone as high as they could in their home. tell said he might have to shoot the roof off so me and my family can get out of here. everyone thought pieces were put in place wan plaque mince parish, why have they not been provided the funds? senator mary landrieu is looking into the issue. why didn't ge they the funds when you know thousands of people live there? >> it's something we're going to be looking into, as well. it also has concern -- we have been.requesting from the corps of engineers and the government the proper funds to protect not only the city of new orleans which seemed to have been a center point after katrina, but the outlying parishes, as well. there's also a parish right now, st. charles where the levee hasn't been protected.

that protects a nuclear plant. there are areas flood prone at risk to these storms in the southern portions of southeastern louisiana. >> congressman, thank you so much for your time. i hope to speak with you soon. and the hours that we move ahead and hopefully, eventually we'll see a break here so he can see exactly how many people are still strandeded in that community. thank you, sir. as can see here, another wave of the storm coming past. we have -- for people who might need help at this hour. some communities when they can -- checking on people who are -- plaque mince parish like the lower ninth ward, when we talked about katrina seven years ago is, some people don't have the resources to go or didn't have the money to gas up and get out of town. fishermen working paycheck to paycheck. people know this community. we can't assume why didn't you

just leave. we'll be right back with more of the storm coverage live from new orleans. >> within seconds the wind picks up even 0 miles an hour. they're gusting to 84 miles an hour. >> easy, and it's a stinging rain. >> yeah, i wanted to thank mother nature for their free determine marbrasion here because it does sting. it stings big-time. e is adam f'm the editor of splitsider.com. i love new technology, so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots!

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welcome back to our breaking news coverage of hurricane isaac. i am live in the french quarter. a lot of. people, i don't know if ta they're curious of what's going on but we've seen people mill out of the different hotels trying to get a glimpse of what's happening in this area. let me go to jesse schaefer from braithwaite. one of the areas underwater, some areas as much as eight feet of water.

some indications around ten. jesse is part of a group of people who tried to rescue those who may be trapped in their homes. what can you tell me right now? >> iage of the got back in my truck and going to take a nice hot shower but the good news is, we saved about, me personally, i've seen about 60 rescues today including about 30 animals. so that's good hsus. so tar, we haven't had any casualties that i know of. >> let me ask you, what made you decide to go out to help. >> i similar between the parishes and i was watching the water all day yesterday and finally when we got the surge at 1:00, 1:30 last night, i sat at the gate on the other side till it was time to go in and start rescuing. we hooked up to the boat and started immediately. >> and how did you get around? >> we went around the surface

road on the levee and we launched the boat from the surface road. >> and i imagine people were just absolutely beyond relief to see you there to help them out? >> oh, absolutely. we -- after we finished braithwaite park which is the first subdivision on the north side of plaquemines on the east bank, we we were headed down highway 39 and there was a family of five t 5 on a trailer with about one foot left before they would go under. they were screaming away. >> let me ask you, were you in a part of the area that was under the mandatory evacuation? >> yes. yes, ma'am. >> you were? i'm sorry. i can't hear? you were part of that area? >> yes. the entire east bank was under mandatory evacuation. >> well, thank you so much for joining us. i appreciate. obviously, i'm having a tough time hearing you, but good work out there, getting in to help

people stranded. thank you so much let me go to janet shamlian. was we're getting hit by another wave of this storm right here in the french quarter, what's the latest from your vantage point in mississippi? >> reporter: we are being hit just, as well. i want to show you what's happening here. this is usually a calm body of water, tamron. right now it looks like an angry ocean and it's covering a road that leads to the marina. it the marina is no more. several of the boats including this big, probably about a 35-foot motor boat have the become unmoored. this one basically rolled right up the street. there is debris flying all over here. everything. there is chlorine from the yacht club's pool. there's pylons from the pool. you'll see that children's park is about four feet underwater. and authorities here are saying we could see the water rise even a little bit further. so it has been a really hard hit for this community pass

christian which took a hard hit in katrina. they lost every school, every church, every public building. there's a mandatory evacuation order for all residents of this community. that is largely unheeded. there are people who are living in their homes behind boards, many behind boarded up houses. many of them have decided to stick it out because they rebuilt their homes after katrina. i'll tell you, again, last night, the 30 to 35-mile-an-hour sustained winds gave a false sense of security that we were not going to see anything of this type. but has really become intense today. as you have mentioned this storm is not moving. it is stalled out over mississippi as it is louisiana. tamron, back to you. >> janet, thank you very much. great work. we just got word that the mayor of new orleans, mitch landrieu has put in a dusk to dawn curfew this in area and jefferson parish.

there are about 500,000 people in the gulf region that will be alabama, louisiana, as well as mississippi where people are without power right to you. we're going to go to a break. we'll be right back with the latest information. we continue -- spent 107b billion investing designed to protect of the nation's security. it's fine. it's not threatening and it is performing as designed and as built. you do this every morning? it's the only way to get fresh coffee. not in my house! this new flavor lock pack from maxwell house helps seal in freshness. wow! that is fresh! am i still yelling? [ male announcer ] maxwell house flavor lock. always good to the last drop.

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[ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products. bottom line is this storm is a very slow-moving storm. it will be moving through our state. we'll be dealing with the storm through early friday morning. and so this is a storm that we'll be dealing with not only through today and tomorrow but we're going to continue to see the effects of the storm especially as it moves to the northern part of our state. >> that, of course, is governor bobby jindal of louisiana. news conference just a short time ago. as i mentioned, hundreds of thousands are still water power

in the gulf region. also we know at this time they're not planning on opening the airport tomorrow. several flights already canceled. it is uncertain at in this point when the major airport in new orleans will even open. i did mention and refer to people who are staying in hotels near me and obviously people going out for a drive, but the folks over here kind of standing outside the hotel. you might see a couple of them. you've got tourist who's came to the french quarter, came to new orleans thinking they would have a little bit of a vacation and now they are ducking for cover and waiting out this storm. let me send you over to canal street. we're standing by with the very latest. reynolds, what do you have there? >> having a very difficult time hearing you obviously with isaac's approach. one thing we're getting not only strong wind but heavy rainfall not just here but all throughout the region. this is certainly a regional problem, but it is a national concern. and you've got a lot of people

obviously focused on this area with good reason. this is a minimum it will hurricane but causing massive problems. not just here in new orleans on canal street where we have damage to buildings, some structures on top of the buildings, a lot of tin and insulation priped off. obviously, no the quite as rough as what we saw last night but still at times impressive to see the hour of this. one thing we've been seeing obviously as you folks at home can see is the rain coming down top to bottom and side to side across the screen. that is something that's caused all kinds of problems, you can imagine. flooding is the biggest concern. although the wind is strong now, it will subside. the issue with this, this is a slow-moving system moving at six miles per hour which will allow the water to begin to stack up. already we've got problems plaquemines parish. we've had flooding in that earl where the levees have been overtopped. thankfully in new orleans, that has not been an issue. mayor mitch landrieu has been

talking about how this is very similar to say, like a boxing match. we're not in the early rounds. this is a 15-round heavyweight battle and it is going to be something they'll have to contend with for quite awhile. they haven't had looting in new orleans. you saw the police car that just went by. over 29,000 law enforcement personnel have been in the area doing what they can to maintain law and order and done a profound job. there have been reports of looting in slidell, granted but in comparison what we've seen in earlier hurricanes that affected this region, that has not been the case. fire department's also been out. something else around, power crews. the power crews are holed up in many of the hotels we have. they can only get out and start restoring power everhalf a million without power and that number is going to rise. they can't restore power till the winds begin to subside. what's the point of trying to string wire when you have the

wind that continues to come through. the trees behind me have damage. but it's as though they handle the wind so much better. they're very malleable and kind of swing back and forth. many of the trees in the region, those beautiful, beautiful oak trees, they can't withstand the wind quite, as well. the winds come through, sustained wind hour after hour, you're going to see the branches break. when they break, a lot of times they hit power lines. when they hit the lines, you have the power outages. hearts go out to people with young children, the elderly, those with special needs. it is going to be a language haul for them, possibly not restoring power for a week, maybe more in some isolated spots. the clean-up is going to be tough. we've seen debris on the streets. a lot of cars out here. people are urged to stay off the roadways. i can tell you that the main causeway in the new orleans is open. but for law enforcement only. not for just your average

lookers. again, we talked about the police. let's talk about the national guard. here they come. all right, guys, give me a beep. these guys doing a bangup job. they're not working a shift like you might at your job. maybe a 12-hour job, eight-hour job. they're here for the due ration. dedicated not just here from the region but throughout the united states. truly a national concern. that's the latest we have along canal street. back to you. >> reynolds wolf reporting in new orleans. i'm thomas roberts here at world headquarters of msnbc in new york. we'll go back to tamron hall in a moment. plaquemines parish has been especially devastated by the storm sthaurnlg overtopped the levees there. the biggest distinction is that they were not fortified through federal funds. these are locally built through the. air rish money itself. billy nugggesser, this was him earlier today on the weather

channel. >> the back levee has been overtopped so much that there's 12 foot of water against the mississippi river levee, but inside the levee system, areas that never had water from katrina are inundated with water. >> billy, any idea of why this happened? >> well, we had a mandatory evacuation because of the storm currently projections for that area were 9 to 12 feet with we had an eight-foot levee. that was a parish levee that wasn't in the federal system. the parish has been adding to that every year and we just needed three or four more years without a storm. obviously we didn't get that with the this event here today. >> we've been hearing about the dozens of rescues taking place throughout plaquemines parish by the national guard as well as bystanders that were paying attention. those people living in st. bernard's parish which is right next door to plaquemines parish were out on the roads trying to

help people stranded in this. many people living in the area that did not get out of the way storm surge there, did not need evacuation orders who to get up on their rooftop tops. isaac is continuing to drench so many of rain on southeastern louisiana as we look at the slow and lumbering is image of isaac, we'll get you more updates from all of our correspondents stationed along the mississippi. we'll be back with much more after this. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract,

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ar ntlr gh rg [ nn ]errequ gh sf owgrl. rg welcome back. we wanted to show you an image from braithwaite, louisiana, in plaquemines parish. that is a home today at this hour as the community there deals with the issue of the levee. the governor of louisiana is saying there might be a deliberate breach so that it can relieve some of the pressure that they're experiencing.

the wall or the levee there is eight -- that wall, that levee pretty much throughout the day. in the meantime, let me take you to rafael miranda. you're standing by for us because obviously, we're looking for a tick-tock here. how much longer at least from the information you have available, might this hurricane whoever over this area like this? >> the problem is it's a very slow mover. we have an extended amount of time we have to get through the wind and rain. isaac is gradually weakening. we're expecting it to become a tropical storm later on this afternoon. that process is very slow and the winds we've been dealing with continue to howl over 50 miles per hour. we saw wind gusts of 70 miles per hour in gulfport. currently winds well over 50 miles per hour. we're not getting a break with those winds as they continue to blow into the gulf. here's a look at new orleans radar. you can see the rain bands streaming in. as we take a look at what we've seen so far in terms of the

rain, again that swathe of rain keeps adding up over ten inch inches. we have reports of over a foot of rain in portions of it new orleans and now that extends towards mobile, alabama. this is such a slow mover. we expect the rain to continue to dump as we head into the overnight hours. here's a look at the windfields. hurricane force winds to the south and east of the center of the storm. tropical storm force winds in orange extend all the way inland into central mississippi, louisiana and also still affecting the panhandle. unfortunately, tamron, those winds been continue into the evening hours. even by thursday, 8:00 a.m., you can see isaac has hardly moved at all. by tomorrow morning, we're still dealing with a tropical storm packing winds of 50 miles per hour and dragging in all of that tropical moisture. it's not till late thursday into friday when conditions will drastically improve across the gulf with all of the rain finally pulling away. that's why we're talking about the potential for catastrophic flooding around the gulf

remembering this is just the beginning. back to you? >> rafael, thank you. let me go to james franklin with the national hurricane center. what do you find most extraordinary about this storm? >> just the slow motion i think is what's going to be what everybody remembers in a long period of time that we had storm surge affecting the coast and the rainfall just going on for what will be probably two days before it's all over. >> and let's talk about the amount of rain that's being dumped, especially in the areas where we know there's a concern regarding pumping that water out as it is constantly coming down. >> that's right. we've got some bands here, what's left of the eye wall here and because of the slow motion, only about five or six miles per hour to the northwest, those rains are going to continue all day into tomorrow. we're expecting up to about 20 inches of rain in areas that are

already getting the flooding from the levees. >> reporter: and going into this, we talked about the storm surge. that's of great concern when we're looking at plaquemines parish and the lower lying areas, as well. >> that's right. you know, the storm surge has shifted around earlier when the winds were out of the east. we had the storm surge at shell beach. now na isaac has moved further on, the wind direction has changed. we're seeing the north shore here getting it. and the west bank here. and also, in mississippi and waiveland where the surge is still coming up there. so it shifts around the storm moves. different areas get hit early and other areas get hit a little bit later. >> we want to look back just a bit as another band comes in where we are right now, but the fact that isaac made landfall and then went back out and came back in again is something a lot of the locals are mesmerized for

lack of a better description. a lot of workers i spoke with as well remarking on the fact that this storm went in and came out and back again. >> i suppose this counts as linda fall although when isaac went over it, i'm not sure there was any land there. so just a little bit of a wobble to the west. we actually saw a couple times in the gulf of mexico and even in the florida keys those also wobbles to the west that the just shift the weather a little bit further over different people get affected by the worst winds and the worst surge. >> all right. thank you. let me go to rear admiral roy nash with the coast guard. sir, thank you for your time. what is your priority, the coast guard priority right now? >> thank you, tamron. our priority is search and rescue first and foremost. as we come out of the highest intensity part of this storm search and rescue is our first step, followed by assessment of

the impacts. >> do you have any indication, any range of numbers of people who may need your help right now or the coast guard help right now? >> tamron, we know that there's 47 people at a ferry landing, and the plaquemines parish has 120-foot boat that would be en route just as soon as the sea state would allow them to operate but also at the same time, from the coast fort guard, our best resources to dress this are from our helicopters. we currently have tworn helicopters en route to this area from houston to be on scene shortly. >> let me ask you the limitations as a result of hurricane isaac still -- >> the limitations, could you state that again? the limitations? >> i'm asking regarding the limitations because the storm is still here.

>> yes, i understand. >> would that limit the coast guard? >> understand, tamron, there are limitations in sea state, but in search and rescue, we are going to overcome those with our h-60 helicopters, which can work in a pretty difficult environment so as we come down off of the hurricane sustained winds and we'll get a little bit lower the wind state, we're going to be able to work in this environment now along with our partners that are working real hard with their boats in the water. >> well, sir, i know you're working hard. we certainly know you're there for the people in this community. i greatly appreciate you taking a moment to talk with us. we'll continue our coverage. in the midst of all of this, thankfully no fatalities so far. we're hoping those people in flak plaquemines parish and other places are brought to safety. when you're covering a live event, have you these situations that happen.

we've been at in the location pretty much all day. i am the traffic director because all of a sudden i think people have started to come out of their homes and maybe that's a good sign as we perhaps are close to turning a curve in this storm. certainly hopefully in the next several hours. we'll go to a break. we'll be right back. well another great thing about all this walking i've been doing is that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! who tore out your still beating heart? [ bowling pins ] ok, how's this gonna play? mi amore. [ chicken clucking ] [ male announcer ] bit needy, g. ok don't sweat it. just do your thing. hey! hey! [ male announcer ] definitely a little bit epic. stride. we'll give you an update on the number of people without power. we talked about those who may need to be rescued from their homes especially in plaquemines parish. 600,000 plus without power in louisiana. 60% of new orleans right now has no power. 20,000 plus in mississippi, 6,000 more people in many alabama without power. and we do not note when those

people will have power because of the winds that continue here. power workers cannot get out there till these winds reduce to at least 30 miles per hour so they can safely get the power on. in the meantime, i'm joined by state senator john paul more rel from st. bernard parish. thank you so much for your time. .what is your biggest concern right now? >> the biggest concern, obviously, is the rain event itself. wind is obviously an issue, like said. we can't get power restored till that wind dies down. when you look at st. bernard, most of st. bernard is within the federal levee system. as far as flooding from overflowing from the levees hasn't been an issue but there there is a lot of rain and wind and a lot of people who did not heed warnings and did not evacuate. so the particularly impacts people are like nursing homes,

for example, were recommended to leave, a lot of nursing homes did not. now we have a lot of people in our national guard and with our state police and st. bernard sheriff's office having to redirect resources to evacuate vulnerable populations that should have already left. >> if someone's at the nursing home, their ability to leave i would imagine would be limited, correct? so were there buss did provided, was there help provided or would that be up to the company or individuals who own the facility? >> actually, after katrina and the disaster that happened with a lot of the those nursing homes where several people actually died, we changed state law to mandate every nursing home had to have an evacuation plan and a requirement to pull the trigger if they thought their population would be exposed. we're finding that many of these nursing homes decided not to implement the hurricane evacuation plan. they thought that this would be a minor rain event which they could weather. they all have generator power. a lot of them still have power.

what it came down to is yes, the levee system has been improved. this is not an event where it ever destroyed levees but this is an event, significant rain and wind. when it comes to low lying areas, they don't have the pumping facilities to liquidatity water out of the parrish remember. if there's a significant rain event, two feet to three feet, then that population is still exposed and those groups should have implemented their evacuation procedures. they chose not to. that's something the legislature has to look into, why did they do that. >> let me ask you, is there a need to relook and re-examine then when you have individuals in nursing homes and to your point, those facilities decided not to evacuate and no one knew what the storm would bring about you, in nursing homes, those in hospitals, the elderly? >> and most of the hospitals

particularly the one in the greater new orleans area and st. bernard all evacuated to higher ground. really we're finding this mostly in the nursing homes. i think that the state gave nursing homes -- we put additional requirements on them to he have these plans and procedures to evacuate. i think the state is finding we gave them a little too much discretion in determining when they should leave. in most of the areas throughout the state, they have very few mandatory evacuations. typically whefrl a parish president or mayor says this is a voluntary evacuation, that's to say able bodied people should not have to leave, i think we have to re-evaluate how we determine wa a voluntary evacuation is and hey, if able bodied people maybe should leave, then unable people should definitely leave. >> that's a question that will linger after this. thank you for your time.

tom llamas has a tour just recently went on a tour of the garden district. what are you seeing and hearing there? >> yeah, widespread power outtages that you were talking about can be seen evidently there in the garden district. right now we're in the french quarter on canal street. you can see some of the street lights are up. in the garden district, a completely different story. entergy is reporting all of the garden district parts of st. charles avenue, loyola university and audubon park is almost 100%out power. many residents decided not to evacuate. but what many are learning this afternoon, there's no such thing as a weak hurricane. hurricane isaac slamming the power grid, taking down trees and wrecking homes. it's a category 1 storm, but it's giving new orleans a good slap in the face. the storm turning parts of the garden district upside down.

we found collapsed facades and several big uprooted trees. >> we're on st. charles right now, one of the main thoroughfares through the garden district. this area is known for beautiful homes and large oak trees. one of those oak trees not strong enough for hurricane isaac. this massive oak came down and has taken down power lines and now made a portion of st. charles impassable along with destroying this car. >> you never know who you're going to need. >> in other parts devastated by hurricane katrina, residents in those neighborhoods aren't just staying vigilant with isaac but helping it each other survive. >> it's about know package who's here so if something bad happens, you know where you have to stop. >> now, yesterday, at fight i had the chance to speak with a former nopd auxiliary i commander. her home received four feet of water during katrina. i asked her why didn't she evacuate for isaac. she said it's a category 1. she said what really is bad is

today. the seven-year anniversary. she says it's so tough because not having power, not having essential supplies, hearing the howling winds, seeing all this water all around her brings back really bad memories, really, really bad memories. as you know, tamron, hurricanes are bad right before, they're bad during the storm, but they're absolutely miserable right after the storm when there's no power. everyone's trying to get around and it's vet very difficult. tamron? >> and tom, i know you have family in this region, as well. it cannot be said enough you have, the psychological impact of knowing that this is the day, seven years ago, that hurricane katrina barreled through this region and what it did to not just new orleans, but what it did to mississippi as well, the gulf coast. when the you the think about it, and the meteorologists and the experts say, notion two storms are the same. we're not comparing this to katrina. if you lived through something like it, there is no way in the world another storm of this size

rolls through and you just brush it off lightly. you will certainly think about what you went through seven years ago, knowing that 100 people lost their lives after katrina. >> no, definitely. the wind's starting to pick up here. i think what i found from talking to residents who decided to evacuate and those that didn't, it was a tale of two new orleans, those that suffered severely during katrina and decided to get out. my uncle and his family lost their second home in bill oxcy. it was right on the gulf. they decided to evacuate. they live in the garden district. my in-laws live in jefferson parish. they didn't suffer too much damage during katrina. they're kind of miserable now because they have the no power and it likely is going to stay that way. as you said nearly half a million people without power. it's going to stay that way for a couple of days. >> i was saying, in the midst of wa we're covering, there are

these moments that you just take a step back and go it's live tv. i saw your hat. i lost mine a long time ago, brother. we're in this together and you look a lot better than i do right now. thank you, tommy. let your family know we're thinking about them, as well. this many entire region not just in louisiana, but this entire are gulf coast. tom troung, what is the latest from your vantage point? >> right now we're going through a pretty big sequel here. there's heavy winden arraign going on for the past six hours or so. this starred around the midnight hours. we've been getting big bands of rain and wind. we just came back from the waveland areas trying to get into some of the hard hit areas. and obviously coastal flooding because of its proximity to the gulf of mexico. that was a big concern from the get go. now as the storm goes further across land through mississippi,

inland flooding is a major concern. we actually were on in a convoy of humvees with the mississippi national guard and we were on highway 603, which is a major thoroughfare going into waveland which was devastated and pummeled by katrina seven years ago. as we were trying to get into there, the water kept on rising and even with humvees we had to delicately try to make our way through there. it's a substantial amount of flooding in that area. if anybody stayed behind, they'd be cut off because that area was under a mandatory evacuation order. i can guarantee you right now that that place right now is getting a lot of water. that the actually inhibited us and pushed us back trying to get to our live shot today. and right now, we're still seeing a big band of rain going through here. absolutely here on the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. this area felt they were neglected because there was twos different stories going on during katrina during that time.

hurricane katrina absolutely devastated new orleans, new orleans was going through its own issues but here they had a big run of the tornadoic activity and the storm surge. some of the areas saw 32 feet of storm surge, if you can imagine that. then again, now, seven years later, they're going through the same thing to a lesser degree but just a significant amount of flooding this time around, tamron. >> all right, thanh, thank you very much. lessons learned. not very far far the mayor of new orleans as well as army corps of engineers, the national guard are all huddled in an emergency operation center. that didn't exist with hurricane katrina. there's still more are lessons to be learned and the state senator who spoke with us bus nursing homes and whether they should look at the law and put stricter laws on evacuating is those who perhaps can't out walk out on their own. still more to learn even seven years later.

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welcome back to "news nation." we've got new details in as the governor of louisiana, bobby jindal has just taken a tour with fema chief craig fugate. 5,000 people in shelters right now. hundreds of thousands still without power. they're assessing the decision to make a decision on the levee if to intentionally breach the levee. the army corps of engineers would be involved in this. this levee we are focusing so heavily on where people where maybe as many as 50 to 100 trapped in their homes is not part of the $15 billion project used to fortify the leb vees and improve the pump system to protect new orleans. obviously, that will be something discuss the later. senator mary landrieu is saying she wants to get funds to help people in the low-lying area.

i want to get an update on the storm. rafael miranda is standing by with the latest. yet again, another one of these bands coming through. lining all of the people who live here and love this area, they can't wait to see this storm finally move on out. >> that's exactly right. although it will take a lot of patience. again, not till late tomorrow conditions will really start to improve. you've been in and out of the conditions. they seem to improve. wind gusts gusting at 61 miles per hour in new orleans. it gets very blustery where you are. gulfport 5 miles per hour. isaac is very, very slow to weaken. and take a look at all of this rain we have to deal with. again torrential down power stretching fra from the panhandle. some of the worst showers and storms in and out of new orleans and also a little bit further towards the east, biloxi, mississippi, gulfport taking a beating. again this is a slow mover into the overnight hours.

potentially weather conditions last into thursday. tamron, over to you. >> thank you very much, rafael. tear p here to help out, especially those from my home state of texas that we met the other day who came down to lend whatever help they can. when this storm passes, they are ready to help these people who will certainly need their assistance after the storm. in the meantime, thank you so much. up next, "the cycle." e great. oh, it's so good! if this image robbed you of the great taste of untopped triscuit, claim your free box online. goat cheese? come on! this is america! [ male announcer ] 100% whole grain woven for an untoppable taste. [ crunch ] his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol.

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