Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
An estimated 50,000 people live downstream of the Lake Tangipahoa Dam in Mississippi, which has been damaged but is currently intact.
Isaac, now a tropical storm, dumped huge amounts of rain in recent days.
Officials are worried the broken dam, some 100 miles (161km) north of New Orleans, could add to a swollen river.
Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess told local broadcaster WWL that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal had ordered buses to the area to help evacuate residents.
'Threat to life'
In the town of Amite, Louisiana, Police Chief Jerry Trabona said officers were going door-to-door to houses along the Tangipahoa River.
Latest weather updates from National Hurricane Center
Red Cross searchable website for disaster shelters
Emergency alerts from the City of New Orleans
Evacuation map from the New Orleans Times-Picayune
New Orleans power outage map
On Twitter, Louisiana officials quoted state Governor Bobby Jindal as saying Mississippi was considering a "controlled breach" of the dam to relieve pressure.
Although no longer a hurricane, Isaac still poses a threat to life because of storm surges, floods and tornadoes, the National Hurricane Center says.
At 10:00 (15:00 GMT), Isaac was 270km (165 miles) north-west of New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina struck exactly seven years ago, devastating the region and killing at least 1,800 people in the Gulf Coast area.
Along the shores of Lake Ponchartrain, just north of the city, dozens of buses and high-water vehicles were sent to evacuate some 3,000 people as waters rose fast - it was waist-high in some areas, the Associated Press news agency reports.
President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, allowing federal funds to be released to local authorities.
By Thursday morning, more than one million residents of Louisiana and Mississippi were without power due to Isaac, according to the US department of energy.
Isaac is expected to move further inland over the next several days before breaking up during the weekend.
Isaac killed at least 24 people as it passed over Haiti and the Dominican Republic earlier this week.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
No comments:
Post a Comment