NEW ORLEANS (AP) — While Isaac has left Louisiana, many of the Bayou State's residents are left with flooded homes, and with no power, air conditioning or clean water.
Neighborhoods are underwater and it will be a few days before the soupy brown water recedes and people forced out can return home.
The slow-moving storm that dumped as much as 16 inches of rain in some areas has moved into the nation's midsection.
But left in Isaac's wake include a dam in Mississippi on the Louisiana border that has been stressed by the storm. Officials are pumping water from a reservoir to ease the pressure behind it. In Arkansas, power lines are down and trees have been knocked over.
In Louisiana alone, the storm cut power to 901,000 homes -- or almost half of the state. The Public Service Commission says that number was down to 821,000 without power by last night.
At least five deaths have been reported in Louisiana and Mississippi. The latest two victims, a man and a woman, were discovered late yesterday in a home south of New Orleans.
New Orleans was spared any major damage. The curfew has been lifted and the city has returned to its usual liveliness.
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176-a-10-(Jill Bode, spokeswoman, American Red Cross, in AP interview)-"a lot of damage"-Red Cross spokeswoman Jill Bode says there are still a lot of people in the New Orleans area without electricity. (31 Aug 2012)
<<CUT *176 (08/31/12)>> 00:10 "a lot of damage"
040-c-18-(Tony Winton, AP correspondent)-"get power restored"-AP correspondent Tony Winton reports that lots of utility crews are in evidence in Mississippi beach towns west of Biloxi. (31 Aug 2012)
<<CUT *040 (08/31/12)>> 00:18 "get power restored"
GRAPHICSBANK: Floodwaters from Hurricane Isaac surround houses, Lafitte, Louisiana, on texture, partial graphic (30 Aug 2012)
APPHOTO LAORS106: Homes in LaPlace, La., west of US 51 and south of I-10, are covered in floodwaters in the aftermath of Isaac on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. Isaac hovered over Louisiana for a third day Thursday, shedding more than a foot of additional rain that forced authorities to hurriedly evacuate areas ahead of the storm and rescue hundreds of people who could not escape as the rapidly rising waters swallowed entire neighborhoods. (AP Photo/The Times-Picayune, Michael Democker) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; USA TODAY OUT (30 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO LAORS106 (08/30/12)>>
APPHOTO LAEG125: Children look out a window as floodwaters continue to rise in their neighborhood, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012, in Reserve, La. Isaac soaked Louisiana for yet another day and pushed more water into neighborhoods all around the city, flooding homes and forcing last-minute evacuations and rescues. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (30 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO LAEG125 (08/30/12)>>
APPHOTO LAORS104: Flooding from an overtopped levee inundated the community of Braithwaite, La. with floodwaters from Hurricane Isaac Thursday, August 30, 2012. The levee break in the foreground was cut to relieve the flooding. Isaac soaked Louisiana for yet another day and pushed more water into neighborhoods all around the city, flooding homes and forcing last-minute evacuations and rescues. New Orleans itself was spared, thanks in large part to a levee system built after Katrina. (AP Photo/The Times-Picayune, John McCusker) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; USA TODAY OUT (30 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO LAORS104 (08/30/12)>>
