night progress in progress to bring you the start of "early today." this morning on "early today," louisiana landfall. hurricane isaac batters the gulf coast with fierce winds and heavy rain. it's official, the republicans newly nominated presidential candidate takes center stage in tampa. and martian landscape. stunning new images of the red and martian landscape. stunning new images of the red planet. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for wednesday, august 29, 2012. >> hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the stalled storm. hurricane isaac slammed into louisiana last night.

now forecasters are warning bad conditions may only get worse as rainfall adds up from the slow-moving storm. nbc's daniel league joins us now. she's in new orleans. good morning, danielle. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. wind and rain has been ripping through the french quarter here. then if you look over to my right shoulder behind me on a building, there is a sign that is just dangling in the wind. we've seen many of those signs ripped from buildings here this morning, and this is really just the beginning of the storm. isaac is coming ashore with a furry. vicious winds and heavy rain are barrelling down on coastal cities in four different states. the storm is knocking out trees and taking down power lines. in new orleans alone, more than 300,000 have lost power by the early morning. violent waves are hurling down along the coast and storm surges up to 12 feet high are leaving

low-lying areas under water. >> strong winds, heavy rain for long periods of time could produce flooding well away from the coast. >> reporter: the storm is expected to last in new orleans at least 24 hours and could bring more than a foot of rain. >> we're in the heart of this fight. we're in the hunker down phase. >> reporter: on the mayor's advice, many neighbors devastated by katrina aren't just hunkering down, they are helping each other survive. >> it's about knowing who's here so if something bad happens, you know where you have to stop. >> you never know who you're going to need in this world. >> reporter: lessons learned from a hurricane that struck exactly seven years ago today. we're hearing that this storm is basically just sitting stationary over new orleans and that is bad news for this city, because all of this rain if it keeps just coming down like this, that's going to mean a lot more significant flooding. reporting live in new orleans. lynn, back to you. >> danielle, thanks so much. stay safe out there. let's get a check of the latest of hurricane isaac.

bill karens has been tracking this storm for us since it made landfall about 6:45 last night. >> eight hours ago it made landfall. guess where it still is, making landfall. it's just ridiculous. stalled out storms aren't good any variety, let alone a hurricane. you're going to have huge water issues, and that's what we're dealing with. flash flood warnings for the new orleans area and all of southeast louisiana. high storm surge in alabama and mississippi. here's the storm, it actually made landfall at the mouth of the mississippi river. since then it's drifted to the west and kind of stalled out here. that's left new orleans in the strong upper right quadrant of the storm, may be there for another 12 hours as the storm is going to move kind of parallel into central louisiana. winds have been cranking, too. some of the highest winds with this storm have been in the new orleans area. they have been in the 60 to 50

miles per hour range continuously with some gusts up to 70 miles an hour. so many power outages in louisiana and gulf port got a gust of 55. storm is still packing a punch, it's not done yet. rainfall totals, 6 1/2 inches already. they could end up with 15, 20 inches of rain. only piece of good news i have is dry air is entering the storm system from the north and west and the weakening process has begun, but not soon enough, lynn. >> bill, thank you very much. first, farther east along the storm, mitt romney became the republican party's official presidential candidate at last night's convention. tracie potts joins us from tampa with highlights from yesterday and what's coming up later today. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. lots of speeches today and lots of speeches yesterday. keep in mind, they are all designed with very specific goals, to beef up the base, get

them excited about the candidates, but also to reach those skeptical voters. last night, there was a very specific target, women. >> this man will not fail. >> reporter: ann romney, from the heart, trying to do what her husband so far has not, win over america's moms and working women. >> i love you women! >> reporter: she talked about mitt romney, the family man, the student, and eventually the entrepreneur, telling america don't hate success, embrace it. >> mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. if the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on mitt romney's success? >> reporter: delegates thought she hit the home run romney needs. >> everyone around us, male and female, were just looking at each other like, oh, man, she just hit it out of the park.

>> she was very natural, good-flowing speech. she's opened up a new side of the romneys that you don't see. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie focused on romney the tough guy. >> mitt romney will tell us the truths we need to hear to end the torrent of debt that's complicating our future. >> reporter: christie put romney over the top for the nomination. >> all 50 of its votes for the president of the united states. >> reporter: tonight we hear from running mate paul ryan. he's expected to talk about his small town roots, less government, and strong community. now, romney was here last night, but he won't be here tonight for ryan's speech. he's actually in indiana today campaigning, but, of course, lynn, he will be back tomorrow to accept the nomination. >> all right, tracie potts in tampa. thanks so much. let's get a little more detailed description of what's going on with hurricane isaac. bill karins tracking if for us. >> let's try to advance the story in what's going to happen

with the path of this storm to let you know what's going to develop throughout the day today. the storm is moving slowly, but we think the forward speed will begin to progress a little bit. as close as it will get to new orleans at 8:00 a.m., then weakening to a tropical storm heading into central louisiana. even in the middle of louisiana, some of the bands will come up through the new orleans area, but 24 hours from now is when the effects will be ending in the new orleans area. doesn't look like the power crews will get in there to help them out until probably thursday. that's a look at the national forecast, now here's a look outside your window. as far as today around the country, not a lot of active weather. yesterday with the horrible storms in charleston, south carolina, should be better today, isolated storms. in the middle of the country, still very hot and very dry. one thing we will watch, eventually some of this rain heading for the drought zone that desperately needs it. >> small sliver of good news for this.

bill, thank you so much. coming up, home prices rise, consumer confidence falls. and too good to be true, teaching your baby to read? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a new woman in russell brand's life and she's another singer. a pair of all-stars get knocked out. nascar's bad boy trades in his wheels for a tank. and the strangest catch you'll ever see. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here's some of your top headlines this morning. syrian troops are being aided by commanders and soldiers from iran, this according to a "wall street journal" report quoting members of the revolutionary guard. that is the first confirmation of iran's role in the war. clashes between police and student demonstrators.

an estimated 1,000 protesters had to be marching peacefully through the streets to protest education reform. a federal court has blocked the redistricting plan by the texas state legislature saying it discriminated against hispanics. the judges ruled the plan protected districts belonging to white members of congress. bomb detonators of bombs from world war ii in an explosion heard and seen across the city. a number of nearby buildings briefly caught fire, but no reportings of injuries. new spectacular images of mars have been sent back by the curiosity rover showing the view from the southwest from the landing site. it's unbelievable. a second image shows a closer look at mt. sharp, which is the rover's eventual destination on this mission. pretty cool there. all right, now here's an early look at how wall street is going to kick off the day.

the dow opens at 13,102 after losing 21 points yesterday. the nasdaq gained three. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei inched up 36 points, but in hong kong, down 23. stocks ended little change tuesday on another day of low volume and even lower energy. investors saw little reason to leave the sidelines, ben bernanke is expected to announce new measures to boost growth. mixed economic data didn't help. home prices rose in june for the first time since 2010, but august consumer confidence dropped to the lowest level since 2011. printer maker lexmark soared after cutting 1,700 jobs, roughly 13% of its workforce. ketchup maker heinz up on a rosy forecast.

movado skyrocketed on good results and raised forecast. tommy hilfiger. its facility began -- the obama administration raised fuel efficiency requirements for new cars and trucks to an average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. watch dycom today, results short of expectations. also keep an eye on chevron, which rose tuesday on speculation it's looking to buy something with its cash. and no, you can't teach a 9-month-old to read. the federal trade commission has filed a complaint against the makers of your baby can read, marketed as a tool to teach infants to read. it costs about $200 and sold nationwide at retail stores including walmart and babies r

us. a nascar driver ready for a collision at home plate. plus, the giants use teamwork and a little luck against the astros. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. i'll have an update on isaac and the fact it's stalled over new orleans is not good. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the mets rallied past the phillies in extra innings last night for their third straight victory. here's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> the mets haven't scored four runs in a game in about two weeks. yesterday they did it in one inning, taking on the phillies. tied at five. in the tenth, rbi double, mets take the lead. that sparks a four-run inning. mets win 9-5. the rangers' yu darvish threw a gem against the rays. ian kinsler did the rest. solo shot in the fourth. that's all the rangers would need to win it 1-0. tough couple days for the dodgers. matt kemp monday ran into the wall and tweaked his wrist. yesterday, this. slams into the wall at full speed. kemp down for several minutes. remained in the game, but could not finish.

dodgers couldn't fair much better, rockies won 8-4. pirates and cards. tabata with a single to right. guns down josh harrison at the plate. yadier molina holds on, but gets the worst of it. down and out and so were the cards. wild play between the giants and astros. foul ball down the line. pablo sandoval is under it, misjudges it. brandon crawford is there to make the diving grab. you can watch a ton of games and won't see a stranger catch. giants held on to win 3-2. andy roddick cruising to a straight set win. serena williams also won. finally, during saturday's nascar race, driver tony stewart was so mad at matt kenseth, he threw his helmet at number 17 as he was driving by. watch out, matt, a tank.

that's right, tony stewart took this world war ii tank for a spin around the charlotte motor speedway. no word if the tank fires helmets. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. coming up, lindsey's off the hook and the beebs comes to the ratings rescue. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. plus, a jarring experience in california with a happy ending. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." the news with isaac this morning if you're just joining us, it's now on land or very close to it here in southeast louisiana. the dirty side of the storm with the gusting winds and rain over the top of new orleans. a lot of people don't have power and are wondering what's going on. they want the storm to end. the rest of the southeast, showers and storms from tampa down to orlando. hopefully nothing like yesterday in carolina. if you're watching us on lax 18, lexington, kentucky, a community arts project that creates bead art. it's easy beading green. get it? i do. at the university kentucky art museum. >> major points for you this morning. bill, thanks so much. early look at the headlines in entertainment. russell brand has rebounded and it's another singer. brand has fallen for former

spice girl geri halliwell, aka ginger spice. >> that was my crush. >> tabloid reports they've been dating since the rehearsal for the olympics closing ceremony. justin bieber taped a segment for the increasingly ratings desperate "the x factor." lindsay lohan will not be prosecuted for stealing more than $100,000 of jewelry and sunglasses. you got to them, bill, they listened to you. prosecutors didn't exactly proclaim her innocence saying only, "we don't have sufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt." >> yeah. >> yeah. thought so. shia labeouf told usa today he took acid on the film "the necessary death of charlie countryman" to help understand his character. us weekly reports robert pattinson is selling his house he once held with ex kristen

stewart. single tear, very sad. >> no tear. >> we're over it. this came to us from kgte in bakersfield, california, where traffic was brought to a crawl during a slow delicate rescue. a truck carrying nearly 100 turtles in plastic bags lost its precious cargo along a highway. a few of the little guys didn't make it, but nearly all were saved and gently carried to safety. as luck would have it, there happens to be a turtle and tortoise society nearby. how convenient. that group is going to put the surviving turtles up for adoption. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today." your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

as you can see, the swirls there of hurricane isaac or isaac right now. the slow-moving category 1 hurricane is making landfall as we speak. we'll have live coverage on the storm throughout the morning. first. good morning to you. i eun yang. >> i'm richard jordan. welcome to "news4 today" on this wednesday, august 29th. we are talking isaac because it is apparently making landfall last night. so still going to be the effects along the gulf coast. >> just made landfall a couple hours ago.

it's now just about 50 miles south of new orleans, the center of circulation. all those bands of yellow are heavy areas of rain. they've already had several inches of rain right in new orleans and across southern louisiana. most locations are getting wind gusts to 80 miles an hour. it is a category 1 hurricane. here is the latest track taking it just to the west of new orleans this morning. and then moving inland and slowing down. in fact, my later today, it will have winds down to about 45 miles an hour. then it's going to be tracking farther north and heading up toward the lower great lakes region by the time we get in toward the latter part of the week. then it's going to take a turn, head east. we may be effected here by the time we get to the end of the weekend. unfortunately for labor day. how much rain there, all this area in yellow is an area of 15 to 25 inches of rain. southeastern louisiana, southern mississippi, and that heavy rain