Isaac brings flooding to Louisiana river

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NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Residents of 1,200 homes north of New Orleans were in shelters Sunday after the Pearl River threatened to overflow its banks and a lock after Hurricane Isaac.

Days of rain after Isaac's arrival Wednesday led to officials in St. Tammany Parish to issue the mandatory evacuation Saturday night, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was examining a lock on an adjacent canal that was feared about to break, but parish spokeswoman Suzanne Stymiest told CNN controlled releases Saturday night were easing the pressure on the lock.

Meanwhile, 320,000 Entergy Louisiana customers were still without power Sunday morning as some 15,000 electricity workers from 24 states worked to repair downed lines.

Isaac was responsible for 19 deaths in Haiti, five in Louisiana and two in Mississippi and dropped more than 8 inches of rain in Pine Bluff, Ark., and 6 inches in Stuttgart, Ark.

Tropical remnants of the former Category 1 hurricane were slowly moving northeast, threatening flash flooding in portions of Tennessee and Kentucky, the National Weather Service said.

The Los Angeles Times reported the Isaac-generated rain across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys wasn't enough to end the region's drought.

"This by no means will be a drought-buster," National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro said. "But we'll take whatever rain we can get."