Mike Hamilton carries his belonging through the flood waters in Reserve. La. Thursday, August 30, 2012. 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.NEW ORLEANS – Isaac crawled into the nation’s midsection early Friday, leaving a soggy mess in Louisiana. Neighborhoods were underwater, and many homes that stayed dry didn’t have lights, air conditioning or clean water.
It will be a few days before the soupy brown water recedes and people forced out of flooded neighborhoods can return home.
And the damage may not be done. Officials were pumping water from a reservoir to ease the pressure behind an Isaac-stressed dam in Mississippi on the Louisiana border. In Arkansas, power lines were downed and trees knocked over as Isaac moved north into the state.
The earthen dam on Lake Tangipahoa could unleash a 17-foot flood crest downstream in Louisiana if it were to give way, which prompted evacuations in small towns and rural areas Thursday. Officials plan to punch a hole in the dam to release excess water in a controlled fashion but were waiting for daylight Friday to decide exactly where and when, said Donnie Hodges with the Pike County, Miss., Office of Civil Defense.
New Orleans, spared any major damage, lifted its curfew and returned to its usual liveliness, although it was dampened by heavy humidity.