Year in Review: #2 - Isaac slams Southern La

In our review of the top local stories of 2012, our editorial board's voting ranked the impact of Hurricane Isaac at #2. 

Hurricane Isaac spun into the southern Louisiana coast on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, sending floodwaters surging and unleashing fierce winds, as residents hunkered down behind boarded-up windows. 
 

New Orleans calmly waited out another storm on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's seventh anniversary, hoping the city's strengthened levees will hold. 
 

Those levees did hold, but hundreds of thousands of frustrated residents waited for days in the dark as the large, slow-moving Category One storm caused an unexpectedly large number of long-term power outages. 
 

Isaac, a massive, slow-moving storm spanning nearly 200 miles from its center, made landfall at about 6:45 p.m. near the mouth of the Mississippi River on August 28. But it was zeroing in on New Orleans, about 75 miles to the northwest, turning streets famous for all-hours celebrations into ghost boulevards.
 

While many residents stayed put, evacuations were ordered in low-lying areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, where officials ordered the closure of the state's 12 shorefront casinos.  Hundreds of thousands of Louisiana residents were plunged into the dark, many for days to come. 
 

The anger over the power outages went from “simmer” to “boiling” over the next few days. 
 

Jefferson Parish President John Young had harsh words for Entergy over the utility company's response to the power outages caused by Hurricane Isaac.

 

Days after the storm’s impact, surrounded by members of the Jefferson Parish Council, Young said that he had heard from numerous angry residents that "There are more Entergy trucks in parking lots than out on the streets."

 

Speaking to WWL First news, Young said, "I'm comparing the failure of Entergy to perform to the failure of the Army Corps (of Engineers) during Katrina."

 

The Parish President used the word "unacceptable" several times in describing the work so far by Entergy to restore power to Jefferson parish. 

 

Young said that Entergy's "snail's pace" in dealing with power outages is impacting the parish's infrastructure and safety response capability.

 

Entergy Louisiana CEO Bill Mohl spoke to WWL First News following Young's comments, and said that Entergy crews are doing everything they can to get the power restored for area residents.

 

"We understand the frustration of our customers and elected officials," Mohl said.  "We realize many of our customers have been without power for a number of days."

 

In all, there were 19 named storms in what meteorologists consider an above-average year that tied as being the third most-active season since 1851. The season runs from June 1st to November 30th, although tropical storms can and do sometimes develop outside those dates.
 

Even without a so-called major storm reaching the U.S., there was plenty of damage. A storm is classed as major once it becomes a Category 3 hurricane, with top sustained winds of 111 miles per hour and more.
 

Seven years have now gone by without a major hurricane making U.S. landfall, the longest stretch on record.
 

Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, said a persistent jet stream pattern has steered storms away from the U.S. in recent years.
 

A typical hurricane season has 12 named storms, six of which become hurricanes and three major storms. This year 10 storms became hurricanes and just one a Category 3 or higher, though it remained in the Atlantic Ocean.
 

Four storms in all made landfall, including Tropical Storm Beryl, which struck Jacksonville, Fla., with 75 miles per hour winds, the strongest tropical storm to strike the U.S. before hurricane season officially starts.
 

Whether next year's hurricane season will bring another calamitous strike is still too early to predict.
 

"You can't use this year as a gauge for next year," Feltgen said. "You have to go into each season thinking, 'This is the year I'm going to be hit and I have to be ready for it."