of this levee.phic here and we're talking about an 18-mile stretch area that extends from braithwithe and located 70 miles from new orleans. show you right here. this is actually the levee. we do know it was built about 8 feet. apparently trying to work on the second phase of this levee. well the problem is of course we're talking about the overtopping and the rainfall has been incredible. so when you're talking about persistent heavy rainfall, of course this is going to put strain on the levee system. we are hearing reports of roughly 1200 residents that live in the region. as you can see for yourself, it's not really widely populated. but this gives an idea. this is the levee and this is the street view. you can see when it starts to come over, yes, it threatens land, of course. roads are impassable and you're looking at a home right here. the other problem too is when you're dealing with the heavy rainfall, then you combine in the strong winds and i know they mentioned that a resident was trying

this is the front levee, the mississippi river levee. at some point in here to here, there is a break or at least an overwashing with the washing out so that the water is pouring in here. you will see all of the people who have been carrying out, they live right there, and also down toward english turn and as far south here as waite, and the area will fill up because nothing can happen with a levee on one side and levee on the other, and a break, the water will go in like a swimming pool. let me give you an idea of the lay of the land, and the water has been pushed, and this is an old picture obviously, because last night, it is filled with saltwater and breached over the levee over the top here and down into the i-39 here, and this is port braithwaite and you are looking at the tremendous amounts of water in here. let me show you what a home looks like down here at english turn, they are ground level and single-family and ground level homes and so if the water is up to nine feet high, that is about there. if you are not in the roof tor

you have a levee system outside the federal levee system which means it's outside the part of the levee that was upgraded a lot over the last several years. tell me about the levee that's been overtopped. what exactly happened and how bad is it? >> we were raising them every year for the last several years with parish money. we know we had a potential storm surge of 9 to 12 feet. we had an 8 foot levee. we knew this was going to be a challenge and this storm was not a category 1. this thing delivered a punch and we saw water come over those levees more than gustav and ike. and it continues to flow. wood lawn is an area on the east bank that has never had water. not even katrina flooded that area. the highest area on the east -- along the mississippi river. there's 5 feet of water at the woodlawn building for this storm. this storm continues to pump water into that area like we've never seen before. >> so you're talking about 5 feet of water there. what's the amount of water that you have the highest that you have in the parish. you are pretty much 90 some odd percent during katrina. how

levees.ater was higher than it was in places seven years ago during hurricane katrina but the levee was not breached, meteorologist karen mcginness is here to explain the difference between the overtopping and the breaching. >> to give you some idea, there was so much rainfall that came so quickly and very relentless. rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour. it's not quite that now. but we are still seeing what used to be hurricane isaac just wring itself out across louisiana. here's the levee, here's the water that fills up this basin and it overtops, meaning there's too much, it can't handle it. so it goes over the levee. it doesn't breach it, it doesn't go under it. it doesn't erode it from this side, it just merely goes over the top. we'll show awe different perspective on our google earth. here's lake pontchartrain and this is new orleans and this is plaquemines parish. there are two levees, one is the federal levee, $18 billion worth of improvements across the federal levees. and t

the wall or the levee there is eight -- that wall, that levee pretty much throughout the day.t 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

now, again, an overtopped levee is far better situation than a broken levee or a busted levee. that's what happened seven years ago to this day when katrina slammed the area here in mississippi, devastating this area. in fact, seven years ago, i probably would have been under maybe an additional ten feet of water. it had a storm surge of 2922 feet right here. west of me in new orleans, the plaquemines parish, which is south of new orleans, the levees, some are actually just earthen levees, so big mounds of dirt and ground. the water has risen so much and the wind is blowing that water, the water is up and over some of the levees and coming into some of the neighborhoods, flooding some homes. that's the latest i've heard in that area. no levee has been broken yet, and no levee has been busted open. no breaching. just overtopping of levees. the levees are still holding, but the big concern not only from new orleans and points eastward here across the mississippi coast and gulfport is the relentless wind and the rain. again, the rain could last well into tomorrow morning. and the

i tried to get the vehicle to the levee, and the river levee is dry, but the water came up so quick, it looks like we lost everything. if i have to, i'm going to have to shoot the hole in my attic here to get up on the roof. >> and it is an unbelievable story. obviously, we hope that people are actually going to get to them and help them out of their home. i want to bring in senator mary landrieu of new orleans and, you are at your home in new orleans here. i understand that you have spoken with both the head of fema as well as the homeland security secretary napolitano, and give us a sense of what people are dealing with now, and particularly in plaquemines parish. >> well, suzanne, you are very familiar with this area and region and it is unfortunate what is happening in the lower part of plaquemine parish and st. bernard getting a lot of pounding, but so has the entire new orleans' region including the, you know, the center city. it is very unfortunate that people did not heed the warnings that live outside of the federal levee protection to leave. that's what the rescue officials

here is the levee, ashleigh, you can see here the water filled up here around went over the levee and back down into this lowland area. so if you have a levee here around a levee here and the people live down here, you have a problem and that's what they had. this levee, 18 miles long, all the way from brait way almost down to carlyle. on the other side, here is the other levee, mississippi river levee, built in case the mississippi river rises are, you don't want that to happen and spill into the neighborhood that's why this is here. keep going. go ahead e move it see up here another 18 miles. so down to the bottom of this, there's this 18-mile swimming pool basically built from brait way all the way down to carlyle and is the area filled in with water. if you go to the lowest spot and breach the levee here or maybe here. go down here, one more time, you can show there is a levee across here the water has stopped, can't go farther south from here, there is a levee and can't go any further west in here there is a levee, if you breach somewhere in here, you will let the water out. even

those are local levees. not federal levees that were overtopped and people should have evacuated and didn't. the coast guard is now on the scene helping people to move to safety. electricity is out in many parts of the metropolitan area. over 350,000 homes without power, which is complicating matters. but, you know, we're still right in the middle of this. this storm is nasty, and unfortunately sort of stationary. >> senator, as you -- >> it doesn't seem want to to move. >> as we talk about what's being seen in plaquemines parish and people asked to evacuate, those who couldn't, climbing to their rooftops waiting for rescue, you said they were local levees topped there nork, not the fede ones. is there an effort or concern that there needs to be federal attention put in that area and other areas where now they can take their sights off of what's been done post-katrina to focus on other areas like plaquemines parish? >> our congressional delegation fought hard to encourage the corps after katrina to look at t

still had very old levees. two levees, in fact.ter out from coming this way because that's where the storm surge was. and another that's keeping the mississippi river from flowing in. let's go ahead and zoom this in. we'll show you what's going on with this on the right side. here is the levee keeping the water out from the bayou. here's the levee keeping the water out of the mississippi river. somewhere along here the levee failed. and water poured in. and now the water is being held in because there are levees here along the river not allowing the water out. even governor bobby jindal said at some point we'll have to blow a hole in this levee to let that water out because right now water is still pouring in. all those pictures you're seeing right there from braithwaite because those people were rescued. more people down river because the water is still pouring in because the winds have changed much direction. this is a big deal. when you have a levee breech, another levee holding that water in, now you literally have an eight-foo

let's talk about the levees in plaquemines parish. the water is over top the levees.d, they would breech. why did they decide to build the levees on their own? >> plaquemines parish like many places in the united states when you look at the floodplains along the mississippi river and florida, they have developed lands in what all of our previous generations knew as floodplains. that being said, that's local parish and county officials approving that structure to be built there. it's no wonder when you get a good price on the lot, get flood insurance on it. i doubt any of those homes have flood insurance. they are not protected by a levee system. they are in a flood zone. that is not the only place in the united states we have that problem. >> so the levees in new orleans, the ones built by the army corps of engineers, how are they working? >> they are doing a great job. this storm hanging around, continuing to push that water. right now, the tidal surge has not challenged the levees. we are better off than during gustav and hurricane katrina. this time, seven years ag

hopefully, we don't get a hole in the levee. >> right. also, we want to remind you rob marciano was up wind from that structure so if it did lose its integrity, it would not have endangered his life or our crew. this incredibly powerful hurricane is not over, not by a long shot. jennifer delgado has been watching the path. get me up to speed. from where marty stood, it doesn't look bad. >> we are going to see gusts up to 90 miles per hour. the latest information from the national hurricane center, sustained winds, 90 miles per hour gusts. moving to the west at 6 miles per hour. it looks like the center of circulation was inland. it has moved inland. it will continue to weaken and likely to become a tropical storm later in the afternoon. weather conditions are going to continue to be bad. we are not going to see the center of circulation. it's going to weaken, exiting out of louisiana until thursday morning when it's going to actually make its way into arkansas. let me correct you, should be friday morning. the days are starting to blend i

officis decided to intentionally punch a hole in the levee. >> if they breach the levee, now that the winds shifted, it would blow the water out. with the breach, that would be four days for the water to leave. without that breach it could take as long as 15 days to pump it out. >> for those not dealing with flooding, there's a lack of power. electricity has been knocked out to nearly 700,000 residents. the national hurricane center says isaac will only continue to lose strength as it moves west. but even once the storm passes here, terrell, residents along coastal louisiana will still have to brave the cleanup. >> bigad shaban in new orleans thank you so much. >>> the republican national convention in tampa wraps up tonight when mitt romney claims the nomination for president. paul ryan accepted his party's nomination as vice president last night. it was the first time many americans had ever seen or heard the congressman from wisconsin and he went right after president obama. susan mcginnis is in tampa with details. susan, good morning to you. >> good morning, terrell. yeah, he's be

the levee at the center of concern this morning. hundreds of thousands now in the dark. >>> ann romney delivers a personal message the at -- at the republican national convention while another speech brings tough talk. we go live to tampa >>> sun from the coast to inland, 63 half moon bay, 90 antioch, live more and fairfield. lower 48 starting to look like fall 70s northeast, 67 in seattle, 72 portland, 80s and 90s elsewhere to 106 phoenix. good news outside of new orleans all major airports on time even back here in the bay area.ñ!ñcús >>> good morning. we are still following developing news live picture of new orleans as it become as area battered by hurricane isaac it is certainly wet as isaac lashes louisiana with heavy rains this morning, hovering over the region unleashing damaging strong winds and causing widespread flooding in new orleans and other coastal cities in the gulf coast. good morning i'm kristen sze. >>> i'm eric thomas. here's the latest on what you just saw hurricane isaac. the storm surge in some places is set

we have seen waves crashing over the levees there, they've been flooding hopes. these two in their boat have rescued families from rooftops and people who have been stranded on the levees. all of this is happening on the seven year anniversary of hurricane katrina. hurricane isaac is taking his time as he slowly batters the gulf coast. the category 1 hurricane is a triple threat with strong winds, heavy rain and powerful storm surges. >> affects we thought would come from a major storm are taking place. >> reporter: waterpowering over levees in plaquemines parish and flooding homes some didn't evacuate in time. >> it is horrible! everybody house is gone! nobody got a house in brathwaite, nobody! >> we were trying to leave, but trying to drive in the car, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. >> reporter: it has toppled trees and cut off power to hundreds of thousands of homes including the local new orleans station wgno. >> we just lost power as well. >> reporter: it was seven years ago today hurricane katrina ravaged the region. louisiana's new 14 bi

even if levees -- you know, the levees will likely hold, given the power of the storm but how much watering to be pouring on the ground? chad myers said 20 to 25 inches in this short amount of time, as rob marciano points out. >> anderson, no one knows better than you do from katrina the total breakdown in authority and inability for people on the ground to know who was in charge and the ability of those in charge to make decisions which are going to help. from what you've seen since you've been backthere, do you believe that th authorities have got their act together? do you get a sense of a proper line of command, peopltaki the right decisions? what dyou feel? >> reporter: wl, you kno every disastersifferent and, you know, until people are tested with the kind of level of storm they had with katrina, it's hard to compare. certainly the level of leadership that we've seen at all levels, at the local level here, there's a new mayor at the state level, bobby jindal, it's a different story than it was seven years ago. it's a very different city that it was seven years ago and different lea

why did you go to the levees? what did you see?walking path up on the levee now. occasionally i go up there to do a little exercise. and i was surprised to see that the entire water side of the levee had concrete. that's to prevent what happened with katrina, where the water side eroded and the levees actually collapsed. so i was glad to see that. plus watching on tv the big structure to prevent storm surge from coming into lake pontratrain and the other waterways. really made me feel good about staying. >> adrian, are most people, are they seeking shelter? are they -- i know new orleans doesn't have to evacuate, but are most people doing what you're doing and trying to find families and neighbors that have homes that are better able to deal with this kind of thing or are people just saying, hey, you know what, it's not that big a deal? >> i think a combination of both. i know a lot of my co-workers decided to stay and weather the storm. like i said, because of my situation with some of my brothers unable to swim, i didn't want to

we have seen waves crashing over the levees there, they've been flooding hopes. these two in their boat have rescued families from rooftops and people who have been stranded on the levees. all of this is happening on the seven year anniversary of hurricane katrina. hurricane isaac is taking his time as he slowly batters the gulf coast. the category 1 hurricane is a triple threat with strong winds, heavy rain and powerful storm surges. >> affects we thought would come from a major storm are taking place. >> reporter: waterpowering over levees in plaquemines parish and flooding homes some didn't evacuate in time. >> it is horrible! everybody house is gone! nobody got a house in brathwaite, nobody! >> we were trying to leave, but trying to drive in the car, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. >> reporter: it has toppled trees and cut off power to hundreds of thousands of homes including the local new orleans station wgno. >> we just lost power as well. >> reporter: it was seven years ago today hurricane katrina ravaged the region. louisiana's new 14 bi

we discussed the levees.and the storm surge, but you also have to pump out the rain water that will accumulate. and even the modern pumps that they have installed are only designed to pump out an inch for the first hour, and then a half an inch for every hour after that. and you know during a hurricane or tropical storm the rainfall rates can be two, three, and at times four inches per hour. so there's going to be significant flooding in new orleans and then points northward as well. so that's the latest from here. we are live along the mississippi river water front. we are also watching what's going on in lake pontchartrain, where we were yesterday that will be put some pressure on the northern levees there and the channel closures. right now, we are just waiting it out as you are, soledad, and most of the people in new orleans. most haven't evacuated, and they are told now you really shouldn't. so just wait it out as it arrives later on tonight. soledad? >> if you're here, it's time to just hunker down. we'

so the levees didn't break but they overtopped the levees. you can see some height rain here. a lot of people asking what kind of damage we are seeing in the move more populate areas. a lot of downed power lines, a couple downed street lamp as well, some shredded billboards. a few broken windows but it could have been a lot worse down here. >> was there any concern about the levees at all though? this is a category one storm. you can't compare this storm to katrina. was that really even the concern or was it just maybe the flooding perhaps that you were going to be dealing with trying to pump that out of the city? >> reporter: well, the flooding and levees are related. the amount of rainfall, of course, people were concerned about the levees. that was the big thing on the mind of people down here. if the levees were to suddenly break, remember, a lot of the flooding in katrina didn't happen during the storm. it happened after when the levees broke. people for the letting their guards down around here. remember two, categories in terms of hurricanes, wave been using that system

as we've been reporting in plaquemines parish, a levee miles of levee over top, outside the federal leveeinforced levee. people generally are hunkering down as everyone keeps saying in new orleans. we've heard reports throughout the nights of fires and they can't fight fires in conditions like this and some of the worst squalls coming in. rain, wind battering louisiana. because it's such a slow-moving storm we're going to be feeling this for a while. >> earlier we spoke with gary le grang from the port of new orleans. he said this felt like a little more than a category 1. you've been through hurricanes, too. >> a lot of it has been how it's coming in and the effect of it. the fact that it's slow moving and this area is getting hit by easterly winds. it pushes more and more water into lake pontchartrain, tests those canals and the levees that failed so his rabblely seven years ago. that seems to be, we hope and pray, under control. but there are a lot of issues here with the path of it or lack of speed of it. it's been stationary for much of the night. that means they keep getting ponded

this was not an army corps of engineer levee, but a local levee. only eight feet tall.ginning to creep into some of those homes there. meanwhile, there were two placquemine parish employees on that levee inspecting it. they became stranded on the levee. they're okay and they're in radio communication with their supervisors. but it will be a matter of time before rescuers can get out and get them off that levee. here within the city of new orleans, the advance levee system, improved levee system that the army corps of engineers invested more than $14 billion in is holding just fine. the city is doing fine and even though much of the city is without electricity, more than half of the city is without city, we're told the sewage pumps are still working. so right now we're just feeling in new orleans -- dealing in new orleans with heavy winds and torrential downpour. back to you. >> gretchen: jonathan live for us in new orleans, thanks very much. let's bring in former secretary of state condoleeza rice because a lot of people were wondering how do you handle the situation he

on to those levees. those people that are not behind the 100-year flood protection on those levees might be at risk but i'm confident that it's going to be able to withstand a category one. >> very, very briefly, if you could pick the greatest challenge facing authorities in this situation, what would it be? >> i think the greatest challenge is just having the public heed the evacuation request. take them seriously. and take those actions which we always recommend that they follow the local elected officials. >> certainly be prepared and take action. thank you very much for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> and as isaac closes in on the gulf coast, on the other side of the world, south koreans are cleaning up after the strongest typhoon to hit them in a decade. two chinese ships capsized leaving 10 crewmembers dead and others missing. the storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, caused flights to be canceled and temporarily halt a joint military exercises by u.s. and south korean forces

it's been rebuilt after the levees breached in hurricane katrina. brian, are the new levee's ready?e very confident that the new levee system is ready. they spent nearly $11 billion upgrading it since hurricane katrina, so they are sure hoping it's ready and they are confident it is ready for this storm. one thing that is a bit of a point of difference here, what they're talking about is that this was upgraded to handle a storm the size and rarity that would come every 100 year, but we spoke to tim duty. this is the group that monitors what the army corps of engineers builds and inspects. they have a watchdog status for these things and what he told us is that yes, while they're pleased with the once every 100 year upgrade to this, he says they should allocated the money to build something that would handle a greater storm. here's what he had to say. >> other developed countries are building to a much higher standard. surely, it's going to be more expensive to do that, but a hundred year standard is not what we would have them build to. we would like a 500 year or 1,000 year standar

the parish owns that particular levee. even though there are federal dollars that were allocated, construction has not happened. you're seeing a lot of the flooding, a lot of the rescues in plaquemines parish. here in new orleans state officials are very excited because the levees are holding up. the onings are ripped. mike if you want to swing around and show trees down over here. this one isn't as bad. in the neighborhood we're hearing about huge oak trees uprooted and falling on top of three or four houses at a time. you wouldn't think that fire and wart would mex but we're learning that a fire that happened is an electrical fire. they had to bust through a window to put that out. in the meantime, again, isaac is hovering over us right now. we're seeing a little bit of rain, much stronger earlier in the day. the winds are still very, very strong as you saw here, the mississippi river looking more like the atlantic ocean. we're expecting conditions just like this over the next several hours into tonight and probably into

that levee system has held up. new orleans we're not seeing the flooding we saw seven years ago. >> we knew it would the be a katrina. we are not expecting the failed levees but what have you heard? there has been flooding in some of the rural areas in southeastern louisiana. >> reporter: that's important to point out. i think it may be confusing that people see those images and confuse it with the heart of new orleans. a lot of money, $14 billion was spent on the levee system around the new orleans area. the plaquemines parish, which was really hard hit with katrina is harder hit this time. they were in the part of that, so what they're experiencing is the same levee system that they saw in katrina. that's why they're expecting and seeing the same system that they saw -- that they're seeing today. what's interesting is there were federal funds allocated to that particular parish. the parish in charge of that levee, they did not spend money on the construction. close to 100 people were being rescued op top of the r

and a major test for the levees that were reinforced right after katrina. cnns has the gulf coast completely covered. five correspondents standing by. first to brian todd live from jackson square in the french quarter of new orleans. i have been watching you getting drenched. what is the latest there? >> reporter: the latest is that we're getting a very intense burst of wind and rain as you can clearly see. take you down here on the french quarter, it's just sweeping down this street. we're a little bit out of the light. you can see down here, the wind is just whipping these trees. a huge amount of flying debris. my brave photojournalist whether take you thro will you take you through some of what they're dealing with here. more than 12 intersections are experiencing street flooding. i don't know if officially if is one of them, but you can see what this is experiencing right now. flying debris. a huge problem. look at the street behind me. it is littered with debris. and it doesn't especially have that many fallen trees. but we're told that in more than 25

there's a levee that separates the bayou and another levee that stops the mississippi river from flooding. this levee was breeched somewhere along here. as it did that the water poured in and had nowhere to go. the problem is as it went in here it was held in by both of these levees so now you have a swimming pool that's 50 miles long. the plan is at some point to blow a hole in this levee to allow the water to go back out into the mississippi because the water is still ten feet higher than it should be. that's why the levee couldn't hold it. >> they're calling on regular folks with boats to come on in and help. >> winds are still 60. >> oh, really. >> you're putting those people in danger trying to get them to help. these volunteers are volunteering and putting their lives in danger at the same time. >> they are. they are. chad, thank you. we're going to talk about a gulf coast in a moment. >>> here in tampa he's the republican party's out spoken figures who came out of nowhere, led the presidential polls for weeks and weeks. we'll talk with the always interesting herman cane about his f

the levees worked.you are seeing, suburban, new orleans, sparsely populated areas not part of the federal levee system, levees not built or maintained at all by the army corps of engineers. a lot of times, they're privately built or privately funded so they're not the same level of protection. those are some areas that got hit hardest yesterday. areas that were okay in katrina but got swamped yesterday. all the new fortified levees are working but they pushed the water somewhere else. the water had to go somewhere. you are seeing the scenes, plaquemines parish, st. john's parish, water to the rooftop, hundreds of homes flooded, people having to be rescued, the scenes of people on the roof tops you saw in katrina. these are different areas, seeing a levee break or, levee over top, don't realize it is not new orleans, other areas outside the system. >> also areas that weren't really all that affected by katrina who are now get like they said their own little katrina with isaac instead. >> and of all days,

one of the questions, will those levees hold again as f a major hurricane strikes.ng us is the chief of emergency management at the u.s. corps of army engineers. mike, are we ready? >> yes, we're ready. we have done a lot of work over the last six years on this system. it is complete and operate as necessary to make sure we can defend against this event. >> a hundred year event and right now the storm doesn't look as strong as katrina. we want to add a little context. with this storm, just hearing about a headed in your direction, what sort of preparations? >> we have emergency responsible plan and initiated any time a hurricane threatens. we have the local levee district in the area we can make sure it's ready to go. >> it's my understanding that according to the information we have most of projects that were started in 2006 are completed. is there anything that is not complete still that being worked on to make sure the levees are prepared? >> no are still spots in the system that are under construction but we have design construction enclosures so can put those i