Officials: Hurricane Isaac's storm surge overtops levee, sends 12-foot flood into La. homes
Hurricane Isaac made its second landfall in southeastern Louisiana early Wednesday, sending up to 12 feet of water into people’s homes as an 18-mile stretch of levee was overtopped, officials said.
Officials in Plaquemines Parish said Coast Guard personnel and others were attempting to rescue people stranded on top of one levee.
The storm surge also flooded areas of the Mississippi coast with water rising several feet in some parts, authorities said.
Some 380,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The storm -- with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph -- hit land just west of Port Fourchon, La., at around 2:15 a.m. local time (3:15 a.m. ET), according to aircraft and radar data from the National Hurricane Center.
Caitlin Campbell, a public information officer with Plaquemines Parish, told NBC News that the water had overtopped 18 miles of levee from St. Bernard Parish Line to White Ditch.
Hurricane Isaac drenches multiple countries as it moves toward Louisiana.
Shawn Reynolds, a producer at The Weather Channel, said in a message on Twitter that Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser had said 12 feet of water was inside some houses in the area.
Nungesser added that officials were "working with U.S. Coast Guard to rescue people stranded on top of [a] levee," according to a Twitter message from The Weather Channel.
"Our main concern right now is to try to get these men to safety and anybody else that did not get out in time," he told The Weather Channel.
Officials in Plaquemines Parish said Coast Guard personnel and others were attempting to rescue people stranded on top of one levee.
The storm surge also flooded areas of the Mississippi coast with water rising several feet in some parts, authorities said.
Some 380,000 homes and businesses were without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The storm -- with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph -- hit land just west of Port Fourchon, La., at around 2:15 a.m. local time (3:15 a.m. ET), according to aircraft and radar data from the National Hurricane Center.
Caitlin Campbell, a public information officer with Plaquemines Parish, told NBC News that the water had overtopped 18 miles of levee from St. Bernard Parish Line to White Ditch.
Hurricane Isaac drenches multiple countries as it moves toward Louisiana.
Shawn Reynolds, a producer at The Weather Channel, said in a message on Twitter that Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser had said 12 feet of water was inside some houses in the area.
Nungesser added that officials were "working with U.S. Coast Guard to rescue people stranded on top of [a] levee," according to a Twitter message from The Weather Channel.
"Our main concern right now is to try to get these men to safety and anybody else that did not get out in time," he told The Weather Channel.