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It's watch and wait as Hurricane Sandy approaches
Editor's Note:  The danger cannot be overstated. Hurricane Sandy has already claimed at least 67 lives - including 51 in Haiti. In the United States, schools are closed, businesses shuttered and mass transit suspended. Residents are being told to hunker down - and wait .  Here is the full story.
Here are the latest developments:
[Update 4:49 a.m. ET]Â Anna Kate Twitty, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, was just on CNN and said the organization has multiple shelters across seven states where evacuees can find "a safe place, a warm meal and emotional support." To find a shelter, go to redcross.org, call 1-800-Red-Cross or download the free Red Cross hurricane app for iphone and android users. FULL POST
Airlines let travelers change tickets, fee-free, due to Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy is still a threat, not a reality, to many would-be travelers - but not for long.
That's why airlines are offering passengers the opportunity to tweak their travel plans in advance of the storm, which isn't expected to hit the U.S. East Coast in full until late Sunday or early Monday.
Eastern United States braces for Hurricane Sandy
Editor's note: U.S. forecasters are warning New England and mid-Atlantic states to be ready for Hurricane Sandy next week, saying a combination of weather conditions threaten to help the storm be a disaster for them. The storm lashed the northwestern Bahamas on Friday morning after leaving at least 21 dead this week in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.
[Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET] Sandy restrengthened to hurricane status Saturday morning after having weakened overnight. It is a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph. Meanwhile, North Carolina declared a state of emergency in 40 counties.
[Updated at 8:23 p.m. ET] Hurricane Sandy slogged northward Friday night at a 7 mph rate, heading further from the Caribbean and getting closer to menacing the U.S. East Coast.
With sustained winds of 75 mph - as was the case for Friday - the storm was centered 75 miles north of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas and 400 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, around 8 p.m., the National Hurricane Center reported.
Tropical storm warnings extend from Jupiter inlet in Florida north to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
For the latest, check out this report.
How Sandy was dubbed ‘Frankenstorm’
Naming tropical storms has been common practice for decades, in no small part because it helps meteorologists raise awareness and helps the media and the public keep track. Popular culture might give other names to extraordinarily powerful or inconvenient storms - tropical or not - such as 1991’s “Perfect Storm," which had Hurricane Grace as one of its ingredients, and the 2010 “Snowmageddon.â€
Friday's live events
Hurricane Sandy could cause problems up and down the U.S. East Coast. Watch CNN.com Live for all the latest developments on the storm.
Today's programming highlights...
Continuing coverage - Hurricane Sandy tracker
11:45 am ET - Biden in Wisconsin - After spending the last few days in Ohio, Vice President Biden will head to Wisconsin for a day of campaigning, starting with a stop at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He'll also speak to students and supporters in Kenosha at 3:00 pm ET.
Bahamas braces for Hurricane Sandy
Editor's note: Residents along the East Coast are being warned to be wary of Hurricane Sandy, whose forecast track takes it along the coast, from off Florida on Friday to off the mid-Atlantic states and possibly as far north as Massachusetts by Tuesday. Here is the full story. See photos here.
The following are the latest developments.
[Updated at 9:32 p.m.] Eleven people in Cuba have died because of Hurricane Sandy, state news reported Thursday night, citing civil defense authorities.
Thursday's live events
The presidential candidates are criss-crossing the country, looking for votes. CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news and views on the presidential election.
Today's programming highlights...
Continuing coverage - Hurricane Sandy tracker
Hurricane coming, island residents warned; U.S. could be next
Millions of people in the Caribbean are being warned to get ready for a hurricane that's expected to strike tomorrow, bringing destructive waves and life-threatening mudslides.
Tropical Storm Sandy has Jamaica in its sights
A tropical storm that developed Monday in the Caribbean Sea is likely to hit Jamaica and Haiti with strong winds and plenty of rain this week, forecasters say.
Tropical Storm Sandy, churning about 395 miles south-southwest of Jamaica on Monday afternoon, could start affecting Jamaica by Tuesday night and cross it or pass close to it on Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane Leslie forms in Atlantic, hurricane center says
A tropical storm has strengthened into Hurricane Leslie in the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said Wednesday.
The slow-moving storm could affect Bermuda this weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The Category 1 hurricane was churning Wednesday afternoon about 465 miles (750 kilometers) south-southeast of the British territory and moving north at 2 mph (4 kph), the hurricane center said.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
Friday's live events
The storm formerly known as Hurricane Isaac continues to trek northward as the U.S. Gulf Coast starts to recover. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the storm.
Today's programming highlights...
Ongoing coverage - Isaac tracker and briefings
10:00 am ET - Romney and Ryan's RNC farewell - GOP presidential ticket Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan appear at an RNC "farewell victory rally" in Lakeland, Florida. They will late participate in a "victory" rally in Richmond, Virginia, at 2:00 pm ET.
Isaac works its way up Mississippi River
[Updated 4:15 a.m. Friday] Isaac, now a tropical depression is working its way up the Mississippi River Valley, bringing heavy rain and the threat of flash floods to the area. A tornado watch remains in effect for much of Mississippi. Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi are under flash flood watches and warnings, according to the National Weather Service.
[Updated 10:35 p.m. ET] And finally ...
[tweet https://twitter.com/artfAEMA/status/241326843901407232%5D
[Updated 10:21 p.m. ET] The folks who catch the shrimp we enjoy on our tables are a tough lot, a breed apart. Not a few of them rode out Isaac on their boats.
[Updated 10:09 p.m. ET] Electric utility Entergy says it will bring its Waterford 3 nuclear plant back online over the coming days. The plant, 25 miles from New Orleans, was shut down Tuesday as a precaution as Tropical Storm Isaac approached. About 41 percent of all homes in Entergy's Louisiana service area were without power as of late afternoon.
[Update 10:01 p.m. ET] Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport received its first post-Isaac incoming flight this evening, from Aspen, Colorado, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office says.
[Updated 9:54 p.m. ET] The Salvation Army says it has provided more than 8,000 meals, 7,000 drinks, 6,000 snacks, and emotional and spiritual care to nearly 600 individuals along the Gulf Coast during the storm period.
[Updated 9:44 p.m. ET] New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees tweeted a message of support for the folks back home while the Saints prepared for a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville:
[tweet https://twitter.com/drewbrees/status/241293012414652416%5D
[Updated 8:39 p.m.] Storm surge and high winds pushed several pleasure boats out of Mississippi's Pass Christian Harbor, leaving vessels high and dry on streets and in parking lots, CNN affiliate WLOX reports.
"I'd say in one word, it's a mess," Pass Christian Mayor Chipper McDermott told WLOX. "We had 215 boats in the harbor, and all but six or seven got out. As you can see, three are in the road, and that is a big problem."
Boat owners were under orders to remove their vessels from the harbor before the storm struck. McDermott wants to have a word with those who didn't.
"I'm personally taking it upon myself to talk with these boat owners," he said. "I'm personally doing it."
Almost 1 million without power from Isaac
Nearly a million customers were without electricity because of Isaac on Thursday morning. Power providers say at least 948,564 customers are without electricity across Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
FULL STORY
Water trapped between levees
- New Orleans mayor imposes dusk-to-dawn curfew
- More than 817,000 without power across 5 states
- Isaac's maximum sustained winds slip to 60 mph
- Emergency crews rescue people stranded by floods
Refresh this page for the latest updates or read the full CNN story here.
[Updated 10:28 p.m. ET]
[Updated 10:20 p.m. ET] Water that overtopped levees was trapped in Plaquemines Parish with nowhere to drain. Officials were considering intentionally breaching a levee downstream to allow some of the floodwater to flow back out of the inundated area, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
Parish President Billy Nungesser said parish officials will go out at low tide to check the back levee - a second line of defense - at the town of Braithwaite and determine where to punch holes in it. It will be Saturday, at the earliest, before crews can cut the levee open, letting water flow out into the marsh.
[Updated 10 p.m. ET]
[Updated 9:52 a.m. ET]Â New Orleans officials said there had been 12 incidents of looting. Police said arrests were made in each case, but didn't specify how many people were involved.
[Updated 9:48 p.m. ET] Lake Pontchartrain's water levels are "beginning to stabilize," St. Tammany Parish officials said, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Water had spilled out from the lake and flooded low-lying areas of the parish.
Rescues continue in areas around the vast Louisiana lake, including Lewisburg, Guste Island, Lacombe and Slidell, the newspaper's website reported.
[Updated 9:29 p.m. ET] Joey Amann gathered family and friends into his home in Hancock County, Mississippi, to ride out the storm, he told CNN affiliate WALA.
"You know, we just figured we'd be safer in numbers. Since our house is eight feet off the ground, we figured we'd be safer there but the water just kept coming," Amann said.
"It was scary. I mean, I've never seen the water raise this fast on this road and I've been here all my life. It just came out of nowhere."
The group ended up being rescued by emergency personnel in boats.
Amann told the station he lost his home to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"Thirty-six years I've lived here, and it's just devastating," he said. "Seven years ago, we were going through the same thing. No one thought it would be this bad, but it's worse than we anticipated."
Waiting at 'the wall' for Isaac to hit
From CNN's Soledad O'Brien in New Orleans
The concrete is so clean on the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal/Surge Barrier that it looks like they poured it yesterday. But the roiling clouds above it made it clear why its completion in May was critical. It's about to face its first test
They call it "the wall" - a two-mile long stretch of concrete that's designed to keep the waters of the Gulf from flooding into Lake Borgne then inundating New Orleans neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward, a surge that destroyed homes and left a trail of dead during Hurricane Katrina.
This massive post-Katrina effort by the Army Corps of Engineers with three 150-foot-wide gates began in 2009. At 10:30am on Tuesday, the two doors were closed for the first time in anticipation of Hurricane Isaac.
"It will keep water from coming from the Gulf of Mexico through Lake Borgne. Last time the surge went into Lake Borgne and into the heart of the city, " said Col. Edward Fleming of the US Army Corps of Engineers. "This wall is built to 26 feet high and we expect to see surges of eight to 10, maybe 15, feet."
Wednesday's live events
Hurricane Isaac is bearing down on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the storm's impact on the region.
Today's programming highlights...
Ongoing coverage - Hurricane Isaac tracker and briefings
8:30 am ET - GOP women's breakfast - Ann Romney and Janna Ryan will participate in a "Women for Mitt Romney" breakfast in Tampa. Ann Romney will then attend a Latina coalition luncheon at 12:15 pm ET.
Isaac 'producing a dangerous storm surge' along northern Gulf Coast
Governments, business and residents in New Orleans and the central Gulf coast rushed Tuesday to complete last-minute preparations to bear the brunt of Hurricane Isaac.
The storm made initial landfall Tuesday evening as a Category 1 hurricane after graduating from tropical storm status Tuesday afternoon.
Read the full CNN.com story here.
[Updated 11:29 p.m. ET]
[Updated 11:11 p.m. ET] Hurricane Isaac is "producing a dangerous storm surge" along the northern Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. ET update. Flooding from heavy rainfall will follow the storm surge, the NHC said.
At 11 p.m. ET, the storm's center of circulation was about 75 southeast of Houma, Louisiana, or 75 miles south-southeast of New Orleans, still moving at 8 mph with 80 mph maximum sustained winds.
[Updated 11:01 p.m. ET] Designer John Nelson created this fascinating and oddly beautiful visualization of every hurricane recorded since 1851. It's reproduced by Fast Company.
The image takes some getting used to, as it employs a southern polar projection; that is, Antarctica is in the center of the picture, with the other continents extending away from it. Hovering your mouse over the map enlarges an area so you can see greater detail.
Nelson created the map using data from NASA Visible Earth and NOAA International Best Track Archive, according to Fast Company.
[Updated 10:45 p.m. ET] Tropical Depression 11 rapidly intensified Tuesday evening and became the 11th named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Kirk, the National Hurricane Center said. Kirk is located in the middle Atlantic and is not likely to become a threat to land.
[Updated 10:40 p.m. ET] Utility companies in four states report more than 200,000 customers have lost power because of Hurricane Isaac, all but 1,000 of them in Louisiana.
Tuesday's live events
Tropical Storm Isaac could make landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast as soon as tonight. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the storm.
Today's programming highlights...
Continuing coverage - Tropical Storm Isaac tracker
8:30 am ET - Casey Anthony defamation hearing - Attorneys for the woman suing Casey Anthony for defamation will ask a Florida judge to force Anthony to reveal her finances and source of income.
Storm surges up to 12 feet predicted
Thousands of people on the Gulf Coast have been told to leave ahead of Tropical Storm Isaac. Forecasters warn the storm will gain strength and is following the path Hurricane Katrina took seven years ago.
The tropical storm was expected to make landfall late Tuesday or Wednesday, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, though as a much weaker Category 1 hurricane, compared with 2005's monster storm.
Read the full CNN.com story here.
[tweet https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/240371730999279616]
[Updated 5 a.m. ET Tuesday]Â Isaac is still a tropical storm and is located 125 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving northwest at 12 mph.
[Updated 4:35 a.m. ET Tuesday]Â The top sustained winds early Tuesday morning are 70 mph. The storm is expected to become a hurricane today.
[tweet https://twitter.com/fema/status/240157831867805696]
[Updated 11:17 p.m. ET] The National Hurricane Center projected storm surges of 3 to 6 feet for the Florida Panhandle, 6 to 9 feet for the Alabama coast and 6 to 12 feet for the Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana shores.
[Updated 10:02 p.m. ET] Here's another way people can help their neighbors, at this location and others:
[tweet https://twitter.com/ASPCA/status/240267475294502912%5D
[Updated 9:54 p.m. ET] Mandatory evacuations are under way in the low-lying coastal areas of Mississippi's Hancock County, which includes Bay St. Louis and Waveland.
Preparing for a storm: Links, tips and resources
Informed and prepared. They're the two things you want to be if you’re in the path of a tropical storm or hurricane.
Some preparations for storms like Isaac, the tropical storm making its way toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, can begin (ideally) months ahead of time or within hours of its expected landfall.
But knowing how to react and whether to evacuate requires that you stay informed of the storm’s progress by tuning into local television and radio stations – preferably, with a battery-powered radio. You can buy a battery-powered NOAA radio that tunes in to special Weather Radio frequencies.
While the power is still on, people can find the most recent information on the storm's movement on the National Hurricane Center's Isaac advisory page. You can also get NHC updates on your mobile phone. Other useful apps can be found for iPhone at the App Store and for Android devices at the Google Play Store.
Some states keep general information about hurricane preparedness on their websites, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Here's a state-by-state breakdown of Isaac's impacts. Many towns, counties and parishes keep information on their websites regarding the storm's progress, evacuation procedures, shelters and suspension of services. Some use Twitter and/or Facebook to post real-time updates. Below are just a few municipal websites that CNN.com has identified, though the list is not exhaustive:
- Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
- Biloxi, Mississippi
- Gulfport, Mississippi
- Pass Christian, Mississippi
- Gulf Shores, Alabama
- Mobile, Alabama
- Pensacola, Florida
Develop an evacuation plan tailored to your family’s vulnerability to storm surge, flooding and wind. Locate a safe room or the safest areas in your home for each hurricane hazard. If the safest areas are not in your home, locate safe areas or buildings in your community and listen to local news for announcements on schools, shelters or designated safe areas. Determine an escape route from your home and places to meet in case family members become separated.
If your family hurricane plan includes immediate evacuation because of the location or conditions of your home, the National Hurricane Center recommends that you do not delay your departure. You may want to evacuate ahead of official orders to avoid travel delays or traffic congestion. Pick a location as close to your home as possible. If it’s a motel or hotel, make a reservation before you leave to ensure space. If you have a pet, this may be your best bet, as many shelters do not accept pets.
Before you leave, make sure you have an out-of-state friend as a family contact, so all your family members have a single point of contact.
Safe and Well on Redcross.org: Let relatives know you're safe
Securing your home includes putting away anything surrounding the home that the wind can pick up: bicycles, lawn furniture and decorations and branches, to name a few. Seal all your windows and doors, and if you don’t have hurricane shutters, board up windows with plywood. Install straps or additional clips to securely fasten your roof to the frame structure to reduce roof damage.
The National Hurricane Center has tips for preparing yourself and your home for a storm and coping with its aftermath, as well as assembling a plan and emergency kit.
Turn off utilities if instructed to do so. Otherwise, turn the refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its doors closed. Close off propane tanks.
Whether you ride out the storm in your home or evacuate, you’ll want to have a disaster supply kit at the ready that includes these items, according to the National Hurricane Center:
– Water: At least one gallon daily per person for three to seven days
– Food: At least enough for three to seven days nonperishable packaged or canned food and juices, snack foods.
– Eating supplies: Nonelectric can opener, cooking tools, disposable plates and utensils.
– Flashlights and extra batteries, radio
– Baby supplies: Bottle, formula, baby food, diapers.
– Toiletries: Hygiene items, moisture wipes, etc.
– Bedding: Blankets and pillows, etc.
– Clothing: Seasonal clothes, rain gear, sturdy shoes.
– First aid/medical: Pain relievers, bandages, splints, insect repellant, sunscreen, seven-day supply of prescription drugs, hearing aids with extra batteries, eyeglasses.
– Modern necessities: Fully charged cell phone with extra battery and a telephone set with a cord, cash in small bills, extra sets of house and car keys,
– Important documents in a waterproof container: Passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, medical records, bank account numbers, Social Security card, etc.
More tips can be found here.
Information obtained from the National Hurricane Center, FEMA and the Red Cross.
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