Plodding into La., bringing a deluge

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Isaac sidestepped New Orleans on Wednesday, sending the worst of its howling wind and heavy rain into a cluster of rural fishing villages that had few defenses against the slow-moving storm that could bring days of unending rain.

Isaac arrived exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina and passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the city's fortified levee system easily handled the assault.

The city's biggest problems seemed to be downed power lines, scattered tree limbs, and minor flooding. Just one person was reported killed, compared with 1,800 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. And police reported few problems with looting. Mayor Mitch Landrieu ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew just to be sure.

But in Plaquemines Parish, a sparsely populated area south of the city that is outside the federal levee system, dozens of people were stranded in flooded coastal areas and had to be rescued. The storm pushed water over an 18-mile levee and put so much pressure on it that authorities planned to intentionally puncture the floodwall to relieve the strain.

By midafternoon, Isaac had been downgraded to a tropical storm. The Louisiana National Guard wrapped up rescue operations in Plaquemines Parish, saying it felt confident that it had gotten everyone out and there were no serious injuries but would stay in the area over the coming days to help, National Guard spokesman Capt. Lance Cagnolatti said.

Isaac's maximum sustained winds had decreased to 60 m.p.h. by Wednesday evening. Even at its strongest, Isaac was far weaker than Hurricane Katrina, which crippled New Orleans in 2005. Because Isaac's coiled bands of rain and wind were moving at only 5 m.p.h. - about the pace of a brisk walk - the threat of storm surges and flooding was expected to last into a second night as the immense comma-shaped system crawled across Louisiana.

In Plaquemines Parish, about two dozen people who defied evacuation orders needed to be rescued. The stranded included two police officers whose car became stuck.

"I think a lot of people were caught with their pants down," said Jerry Larpenter, sheriff in nearby Terrebonne Parish. "This storm was never predicted right since it entered the Gulf. It was supposed to go to Florida, Panama City, Biloxi, New Orleans. We hope it loses its punch once it comes in all the way."

The storm knocked out power to as many as 700,000 people, stripped branches off trees, and flattened fields of sugar cane so completely that they looked as if a tank had driven over them.

Plaquemines Parish ordered a mandatory evacuation for the west bank of the Mississippi below Belle Chasse because of storm-surge fears. The order affected about 3,000 people, including a nursing home with 112 residents. In Jefferson Parish, the sheriff ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

West of New Orleans in St. John the Baptist Parish, flooding forced 1,500 people to evacuate. And Gov. Bobby Jindal's office said thousands in the area needed to evacuate. Rising water closed off all main thoroughfares into the parish, and in many areas, water lapped up against houses and left cars stranded.

After wind-driven water spilled over the levee in Plaquemines Parish, state officials said they would cut a hole in it as soon as weather allowed and equipment could be brought to the site.

In coastal Mississippi, wildlife officers used small motorboats Wednesday to rescue at least two dozen people from a flooded neighborhood.

Back in New Orleans, the storm canceled remembrance ceremonies for those killed by Katrina. Since that catastrophe, the city's levee system has been bolstered by $14 billion in federal repairs and improvements. The bigger, stronger levees were tested for the first time by Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Rachel Rodi said the flood-control measures were working "as intended" during Isaac.

Isaac came ashore late Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane, with 80-m.p.h. winds near the mouth of the Mississippi River. It drove a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland.

In Vermilion Parish, a 36-year-old man died after falling 18 feet from a tree while helping friends move a vehicle ahead of the storm. Deputies did not know why he climbed the tree.

Slashing rain and wind gusts up to 100 m.p.h. buffeted New Orleans skyscrapers.

In Mississippi, some sections of the highway that runs along the Gulf, U.S. 90, were closed by flooding.

In Pass Christian, a Mississippi coastal community wiped out by hurricanes Camille and Katrina, Mayor Chipper McDermott was optimistic that Isaac would not deal a heavy blow.

"It's not too bad, but the whole coast is going to be a mess," he said.

Forecasters expected Isaac to move inland over the next several days, dumping rain on drought-stricken states across the nation's midsection before finally breaking up over the weekend. The East Coast was not expected to see any effects.