Hurricane Isaac Updates

Check out the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

And at the website, "Isaac slows, now forecast to pass New Orleans at 1 a.m.", and "Nearly 50,000 without power as Hurricane Isaac approaches."

Lots more at that top link.

And at the American Political Science Association, "2012 Annual Meeting - CANCELED."

I'll be updating throughout the night.

5:53pm Pacific: The New York Times reports, "Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall Along Gulf Coast":

NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Isaac made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Tuesday night as a Category 1 storm, smaller than initially feared, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center announced at about 8 p.m. Eastern that Hurricane Isaac had hit southeastern Louisiana with sustained winds of 80 miles per hour. The storm was moving northwest at a slow pace of 8 m.p.h., making serious flooding more likely as the storm lingers over land. There have already been reports of flooding and power failures in several areas along the Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center said in a statement that a storm surge of eight feet was recorded at Shell Beach in Louisiana.

“Now is the time to hunker down,” Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans, said in a televised news conference as the storm came to shore.

The coast — and areas extending inland from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle — was bracing throughout the day for strong winds, heavy rain and flooding. The threat of tornadoes has also increased with the approach of the storm.

A hurricane warning was in effect for areas east of Morgan City, which sits on the Atchafalaya River in south-central Louisiana, and extending into Mississippi. That stretch of coast includes New Orleans.

And also video from CNN, "See new images of Isaac from space."