Hurricane Isaac 2012: Weakened Storm Continues Northward Path, US Death Toll Up to 5
Hurricane Isaac 2012 continued its slow crawl northwards on Friday, leaving a battered and flooded Louisiana and two more dead.
Various neighborhoods were extensively flooded from Isaac's relentless rains, and even many areas that avoided the flooding were left without power as Isaac's now-weakened winds continued to fell trees and knock out power. Residents in many regions were left affected by outages, no air conditioning and no clean water.
Thousands who have left their homes will have to wait eagerly over the coming few days to gain a full picture of the extent of the damage, and it could be a while before some can return home.
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New Orleans itself avoided most of the problems, with its new multi-billion dollar levee holding strong, proving a good investment following Hurricane Katrina's devastating affects on the city in 2005.
Some areas have been hit by 16 inches of rain, as Isaac's slow movement allows it to pound some areas for extended periods. In the more rural regions many people suffered worse flooding to their homes than they did in Katrina.
At least five deaths have now been reported across Louisiana and Mississippi, with the latest two victims being a man and a women discovered in Braithwaite, south of New Orleans.
Another man died when a tree fell on his truck crushing him to death. In another incident one man was killed in a restaurant fire, which firefighters struggled to control due to Isaac's strong winds feeding the blaze.
Prior to Isaac making landfall at least 24 were killed in Haiti by Isaac, and another five in the Dominican Republic.
In Louisiana almost half of the state was left without power earlier in the week, with more than 900,000 homes and businesses affected by the outages. However, that number had already been reduced to 821,000 by Friday morning.
It could take until the end of the weekend for power to be restored to most of the remaining areas.
