Troubling Waters as Isaac Hits Gulf Coast on Katrina Anniversary

Lingering storm, high-tides expected to bring severe flooding

After making landfall late Tuesday night, Hurricane Isaac has hovered over coastal areas of the Gulf Coast and, according to the National Weather Service, has dumped "copious amounts of rain" and is prolonging a dangerous storm surge across Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Florida panhandle.

High tide will hit at approximately 9:30 am Wednesday morning -- seven years to the day since Hurricane Katrina -- and the National Hurricane Center has put large swaths of low-lying areas under severe flood warnings. Rainfall predictions, due to the storm's slow pace, have also been raised from 12 inches to 18 inches in some areas.

CNNreports that levees in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana were overtopped by rising waters. This levee system was not part of the large-scale upgrade that followed the failures that contributed to the Katrina flooding in 2005.

Hundreds of thousands of people were without power across the state's southern parishes, including more than 400,000 in New Orleans and its suburbs, power provider Entergy reported.

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