Sprawling Isidore soaks Gulf Coast

NEW ORLEANS -- Tropical Storm Isidore drenched the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, raising fears of flooding and chasing tourists and residents inland as it swirled toward land with a potential 20 inches of rain.

By evening, the center of the sprawling storm was 215 miles south of New Orleans and moving north at 12 mph. Forecasters said Isidore was expected to come ashore along Louisiana's shoreline early today.

Isidore was packing less punch than when it battered Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a hurricane over the weekend, but was still blowing at 60 mph. The storm was blamed for at least two deaths in Mexico.

It dumped more than 6 inches of rain on parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, flooding coastal islands and knocking out power to at least 1,000 people in Louisiana.

As much as 20 inches of rain were forecast in some places, including New Orleans, where the mayor closed City Hall at noon. Schools across the Gulf Coast were also closed, and evacuation notices were posted in such low-lying areas as Alabama's Dauphin Island and Louisiana's Grand Isle.

The National Guard was called out to help with evacuations in Mississippi and Louisiana, where the governors declared states of emergency. Gamblers were sent home from Mississippi's coastal casinos, and Northrup Grumman shut down its shipyards in Pascagoula and Gulfport.

The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans was opened for elderly and disabled people. At another shelter, near Mobile, Ala., 70-year-old Jackie Long and 35 others decided to wait out the storm.

"I just want to be with a crowd in bad weather," Long said. "I'm chicken when it comes to lightning. We'll stay here and see how bad it gets."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the low-lying city expected 10 to 15 inches of rain and winds of at least 40 mph. Officials said the chances of flooding in the streets would depend on how fast the rain fell.

A hurricane watch stretched about 300 miles from Cameron, in southwestern Louisiana, to Pascagoula, Miss., and a tropical storm warning encompassed a wider area, from High Island, Texas, to St. Marks, Fla.

The drenching rain is not expected to pull the South out of its five-year drought. During huge downpours, a lot of the water tends to run off into rivers before it can soak into the ground.

Rain fell steadily in the western Florida Panhandle, causing minor street flooding. The beach at Alabama's Dauphin Island was deserted except for a couple of daredevil surfers and a few people in a pavilion watching lines of rain sweeping in from the Gulf.

Pete Ulmer boarded up the windows at his air-conditioning business in Empire, at Louisiana's southeastern tip. But he was staying put.

"It's kind of stupid to stay if it's really bad. But we're expecting maximum winds of 60 mph and four or five inches of water," Ulmer said. "We get that in a normal thunderstorm."