rising water from tropical storm isaac is threatening the percy quinn dam in the mississippi. if it fails parts of louisiana will flood. and louisiana governor ordered buses to help evacuate residents in case it fails. one resident says it's just unbelievable. >> i never imagined this. >> across the gulf isaac damage is extensive, tornadoes ripping through alabama and mississippi today thchl one in gulf port tore a home from its foundation. >> yosemite national park officials closed 91 cabins after a deadly hanta virus outbreak two. people died from the disease and two others, sickened. hanta virus contracted through contact with rodent droppings. the cdc reports a third of the people who contract it will die from the disease. documents released today show national parks service was asked to help up -- step uninspections for rodents in 2010. that report comes days after a pennsylvania visitor became the second death connected to the virus. >> and presidential campaign, republican national convention wraps up tonight with mitt romney taking center stage after being introduced b

. >> mississippi emergency operation center has informed us in the past hour that the dam in percy quinn state park is in emmy net threat of failure. >> reporter: if the dam face, parts of louisiana will flood. louisiana governor bobby jindal said authorities are scrambling to prevent that from happening. >> they're planning to prohaven't the dam from raking. >> reporter: across the gulf isaac's damage is extensive. this one am gulfport tore a home from its foundation. nearly a million people in louisiana are without power. rising floodwaters left people to escape. the national guard is saving 33 people are hour. . >> i got are inous when the water started coming up. then all of a sudden it kept going. >> reporter: in new orleans, the $14 billion flood protection system worked but the mayor warning warned they're not out of the woods yet. >> we cannot let our guard down. the game is not over until the game is over. kelly, we learned just a short time ago that engineers moved in to breach that dpam along the mississippi -- dam along the mississippi border to let wart out. there's high anx

. >> mississippi passenger center informed us that the dam in percy quinn state park is in threat of failure. >> if this fails, parts of louisiana will flood. and damage is extensive, tornadoes ripped through alabama and mississippi this one tore a home from its foundation nearly a million people in louisiana were out power. there are rising flood waters left people racing to escape and search and rescue operations still under way. >> and there are a fleet of buses ferrying evacuees to safety. >> i got nervous when water started coming up. i lost everything. and we said look at the refrigerator. >> the flood protection system worked but the mayor warned they're not out of the woods yet. >> we cannot let our guard down. there is a very important day. and this game is not over until the game is over. >> and there is a situation improving tonight here in new orleans. and isaac was down graded to a tropical depression with 35 miles per hour winds and folks outside remain anxious tonight. >> what are officials saying about the levies? wernl looks nice. >> it is nice. no. actually official

this is percy quinn dam. it's holding up for now.rgency officials say it's damaged but the damage is not leaking as of this moment. two deaths are reported in louisiana. the bodies of a man and woman were found floating in seven feet of water in a kitchen inside one of areas hardest hit. >>> mitt romney is in louisiana right now touring some of the storm damage there. he is planning to thank first responders. he is visiting a small fishing town in louisiana. the floods hit this town hard. the town's mayor was in his office with waist high water. that's how bad it was. this is mitt romney's second big stop of the day. earlier this morning here he was in lakeland, florida with paul ryan. >>> you have seen cnn's incredible documentary in the life and career of mitt romney and as the democratic national convention inches closer to us, we're doing the same thing for president obama and our chief white house correspondent got incredible access to the president. here what surprised her the most, next. go ahead of him and win fifty thousand

percy quinn park, here's the dam itself, here's the little spillway that should be dumping water overes, except now there's just tremendous amounts of water coming down, way too much water coming down. and it will eventually dump into lake pontchartrain. so let's take you. this is less than a one-square-mile lake. there's water here, a lot of water, but this isn't like some tsunami, like in -- you know, like the tsunami in japan that's going to flood all the way down to louisiana. there will be, if it fails, it hasn't yet, and they're working on it to stop that. if there's water coming down the way, if it does fail quickly, water will go back a quarter mile one way or the other. go ahead and fly all the way down, sean, show you where it's going from here. comes down here, into osyka, the water coming through here, this is kentwood, they're concerned a little bit that some of these eastern homes in kentwood could get a little bit wet, and down towards robert and amite. a lot of river bottom is farmland. there's robert. we know people are evacuating here already. they're packing up and

incredibly, at this hour, officials will watching the percy quinn dam in southern mississippi which they say is in imminent danger of failing. even if it fails, it's not expected to swell the river. meantime in slidell, louisiana, real trouble. residents are trying to flee after extensive flooding there. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in slidell, louisiana. gabe, the scenes behind you are extraordinary. tell us the latest and how things are holding up. >> reporter: andrea, it's been a tough morning for many residents here. parts of slidell are still under water. national guard and local officials are trying to rescue trapped people from their homes. take a look behind me. this is one of the neighborhoods that has been flooded. you can see there are plenty of cars there and there's a vehicle in the distance looking for some of those residents that have been trapped. rescue crews pulled about 45 people from their homes here overnight. this mornings about another 40 from the old towne area near. 100 people pulled from their homes overnight. the police chief tells us they're hoping to reach another

. >> there are concerns, at percy quinn, about a dam over in mississippi, that if this dam were to break take about 90 minutes for that water to get to kentwood. we have been in contact with our mississippi counterparts, including the department of transportation over there. they are planning a planned breach of that dam, to avoid, to prevent the dam from breaking. this morning, they were concerned that the breaking was imminent. >> that operation planning to relieve some of the pressure that is on that dam right now, so that the repair operations can continue, and hopefully that dam will not fail, but people in two states right now, are very worried about it. >> david mattingly, thank you, there for us in mississippi. i know a lot of you have been reaching out, wondering how you can help. you can, just go to ou impact your world website, that is cnn.com/impact. >>> any moment now, we are getting word that tonight's mystery republican speaker will be doing a walk-through at the forum here in tampa. you will see mr. clint eastwood in a matter of moments. stay here. at usaa, we believe hon

an emergency management agency firm says the percy quinn state park dam is in jeopardy. it could put some lives at risk. there is 50-50 chance it could break. evacuations were ordered for that area. >>> key farm states suffering through the worst drought in decades have benefited from recent rains with much more on the way from remnants of isaac. forecasting expecting portions of the mid with he is to get as much as 12 inches of rain in the next few days. >>> if you can't get enough the rolling stones, the stones i call them, a new documentary is marking the band's 50 year journey it will feature historical footage from band members both past and present. due for release in british theaters in october and later this year in the u.s. on hbo. those are the news headlines on the fox business network. ashley, how is that possible? ashley: how the heck is keith richards lasted this long? >> i always forget he is still alive. ashley: i know, i know. one of nature's wonder, isn't it? >> god love him. ashley: juliet huddy, thank you. the financial toll from isaac still adding up

the percy quinn dam is holding up for now. emergency officials are saying this.damaged, but the dam is not leaking. it's not leaking right now . for new orleans, the storm may have moved on by devastating conditions may linger for days. 11 people were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning because they used general ratsers inside their home. >> just because it was category 1 for some people doesn't mean it was a category 1 for everybody. there are some individuals that have suffered damages that are in excess of what they suffered during katrina. >> two deaths are reported in louisiana. the bodies of a man and woman were found floating in seven feet of water in a kitchen inside of a home in plaquemines parish. so many others barely escaped. rob was covering isaac for us this past week. he spoke with a married couple who survived a tremendous scare. >> reporter: coast guard choppers continued the work of rescuing victims of hurricane isaac. >> we were directed to evacuate but we couldn't get too far down the road before we got swamped. >> reporter: they were

they are worried that a dam that holds back a lake there, the percy quinn dam may fail.ons for that. stortry is not own yet, zoraida. >> rob, we thank you for that update. let's head back to tampa where john berman is standing by. the rnc now over so you're hanging out at a diner? >> that's right, they kicked us out of the republican convention headquarters and we're at patch's place. serving us a fantastic breakfast. everyone in the diner talking about the republican national convention. mitt romney's big moment in the spotlight. did it work? we'll ask those questions and get answers coming up live in tampa. you're watching "early start." [ female announcer ] the coffee house. the lines the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself ♪ [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor with coffee-mate, from nestle. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are th

. >> there are concerns percy quinn about a dam over in mississippi that if this dam were to break, itat water to get to kentwood. we've been in contact with our mississippi counterparts including the department of transportation over there and they're planning a planned breach to avoid to prevent the dam from breaking. this morning they were concerned that breaking was imminent. >> bobby jindal speaking a little while ago. let's go to our severe weather expert chad myers who has been working very, very hard for all of us. what's the latest on that dam, first of all, chad? >> the water has been up to the top of the dam and it's been going all day and i've seen pictures from the army corps that's been taken and from the dry side of the dam is so wet from all of the rain and it's beginning to slide away. so the plan is to take part of this dam and cutta i piece of the dam away and allow the water to spill over and make a low water spill. here's new orleans and lake pontchartrain and we have to fly you up to mississippi. this is the mississippi dam. the quinn lake right here and there's t