Hurricane Isaac Continues to Pound Coastal Mississippi and Louisiana

Jackson, MS—Hurricane Isaac has slowed in the Gulf and continues to send torrential rains over already rain-soaked areas throughout Mississippi and Louisiana.

Emergency operations continue for Mississippians affected by the storm with the following updates:

• Shelters: 31 shelters across the state are open with 2,132 evacuees housed.
• Power Outages: As of 5:30 a.m., approximately 4,000 homes are reported without power, of which 735 are Entergy customers.
• Road closures: US 90 between Bay St. Louis Bridge to Biloxi Bay Bridge is closed to all traffic. Highway 604 in Hancock County, north of Pearlington.
• Search/Rescue: Overnight, in Hancock County, there were three adults and one infant who were rescued from a houseboat on the Pearl River near Pearlington.
• Mississippi National Guard: 1,500 National Guard troops were deployed to affected areas.
• Mississippi Highway Patrol: 104 troopers from the MHP were deployed to affected areas to assist local law enforcement. Many of these troopers are members of the Special Operations Group which specializes in search and rescue operations.
• Resources: A truckload of generators is staged at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, MS to be deployed as needed to areas affected by the storm; 20 truckloads of water and two truckloads of tarps are staged and to be distributed as needed; and over 80,000 sandbags were distributed to affected counties.

For up-to-date information on American Red Cross shelters, go to http://mississippi-redcross.org/. For updates on MEMA emergency operations, call the MEMA information line at 1-866-519-6362 or go online to www.msema.org.