Hurricane Isaac: Are the Levees Holding? Plaquemines Parish Flood

New Orleans Levees Mostly Holding Up During Hurricane Isaac

So far, the levees protecting the New Orleans area have held up as Hurricane Isaac hits the Gulf Coast. So far, none of the rebuilt levees have actually broken. Below you can see a live map of Hurricane Isaac's progress.

• National Hurricane Center: Hurricane Isaac Info
  

Plaquemines Parish: Hurricane Katrina Part II

However, Plaquemines Parish is protected by an older, pre-Katrina levee, which was swamped with eight feet of floodwater. This caused power outages that affected 591,000 people: that more than 50% of the state.

Plaquemines Parish had been using its own funds to upgrade its levee protection, while other levees were rebuilt with federal funds. This ended up creating a worst-case scenario in what was "only" a Category 1 hurricane.

Around 23,000 people live in Plaquemines Parish, most of whom had already evacuated. Those remaining, however, are currently out of reach of rescue crews. Residents who stayed behind have been using their own boats to rescue their neighbors. 75 people have already been rescued, and 25 are still stranded. [Update: rescue operations are complete in Plaquemines Parish.]

The Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser said that the Hurricane Isaac's hit to his area was just as bad as Katrina. Governor Bobby Jindal said that the levees around Plaquemines Parish will be intentionally breached to relieve the water pressure.

Here is a map of Plaquemines Parish:

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