Tropical Weather
Workers move horses into trailers at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, after a mandatory evacuation of the animals was issued by the track, in pr...
Workers move horses into trailers at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, after a mandatory evacuation of the animals was issued by the track, in preparation for Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to become a hurricane as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, in New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
APTOPIX Tropical Weather
A person braves the rain at Clarence Higgs Beach in Key West, Fla., as Tropical Storm Isaac hits the area on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Isaac gained fres...
A person braves the rain at Clarence Higgs Beach in Key West, Fla., as Tropical Storm Isaac hits the area on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Isaac gained fresh muscle Sunday as it bore down on the Florida Keys, with forecasters warning it could grow into a dangerous Category 2 hurricane as it nears the northern Gulf Coast. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Walter Michot)
Tropical Weather
A car goes through a flooded street due to heavy rains in Key West, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012 as heavy winds and rain hit the northern coast. Rain ...
A car goes through a flooded street due to heavy rains in Key West, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012 as heavy winds and rain hit the northern coast. Rain bands from Tropical Storm Isaac are expected to continue streaming across Marion County Monday as the ninth named storm of the 2012 hurricane season continues toward the northern Gulf of Mexico. National Weather Service officials in Jacksonville on Sunday said Marion County began getting rain bands from Isaac around 2 p.m. and that the rain would continue through Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Tropical Storm Isaac is churning toward the northern Gulf Coast a good drenching after lashing the Florida Keys and Miami area with wind and rain.
The National Hurricane Center predicts Isaac will grow a Category 2 hurricane over the warm Gulf of Mexico and possibly hit late Tuesday somewhere along a stretch that starts west of New Orleans and runs to the edge of the Florida Panhandle. That would be one day shy of seven years after Hurricane Katrina struck catastrophically in 2005.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called a state of emergency, and residents of St. Charles Parish near New Orleans were told to leave. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley also declared states of emergency.