fb-pixelDays after Isaac, flooding and outages remain - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Days after Isaac, flooding and outages remain

Workers repaired a roof next to a power pole destroyed by Hurricane Isaac in lower Plaquemines Parish in Boothville, La. Sunday was the first day some residents of lower Plaquemines were allowed to return to assess the damage.Mario Tama/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS — Much of Plaquemines Parish was still covered with flood water Sunday and more than 200,000 people across Louisiana still did not have any power, five days after Isaac ravaged the state. Thousands of evacuees remained at shelters or bunked with friends or relatives. At least seven people were killed by the storm — five in Louisiana and two in Mississippi.

President Obama is to visit Louisiana on Monday, a day before the Democratic National Convention. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney visited the state Friday.

''My family is split up,'' said Angela Serpas, from severely flooded Braithwaite. Serpas and her daughter were staying with her in-laws while her husband and son were staying in Belle Chasse, a suburban area of the parish. ''This is the second time we've lost our home. We lost it in Katrina,'' she said.

Advertisement



Despite the hardships, there were signs of progress. Workers continued their return to offshore oil and gas production platforms and drilling rigs, electricity came on for hundreds of thousands of people, and an annual gay pride celebration was held in the French Quarter.

But workers were still trying to clear toppled trees and downed power lines, driving remained hazardous in areas without working traffic lights, and New Orleans opened two cooling shelters so those with no electricity could escape the heat.

Much of Plaquemines Parish, a vulnerable tract that juts into the Gulf of Mexico southeast of New Orleans, remained under as much as 5 feet of water, Parish President Billy Nungesser said. The Category 1 hurricane walloped the parish, and for many, the damage was worse than Katrina in 2005.

''I've never seen water come up this quick this fast,'' he said.

He said there were reports that cattle in the largely rural parish took refuge on porches.

Associated Press