La. recovery under way, Isaac heads north

Louisiana began to dry out Saturday as officials said life for residents was returning to normal despite high water and a lack of electric power. The storm that caused all the trouble, Isaac, left seven people dead as it moved toward Midwestern states, the Los Angeles Times reported. Heavy rainfall was expected during the Labor Day weekend in the Ohio Valley, AccuWeather reported. After the storm dropped more than 8 inches of rain in Pine Bluff, Ark., and 6 inches in Stuttgart, Ark., the remnants of Isaac were expected to leave a trail of 2 to 4 inches of precipitation Saturday from St. Louis to Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Officials said they hoped to have power restored Saturday to 90 percent of the households in the affected area, while 1,700 fewer people were reported to have stayed overnight Friday at shelters around the state. Thousands of people in Jefferson Parish lined up Friday to pick up packages of food and basic necessities from the Louisiana National Guard. About 2,000 boxes of meals-ready-to-eat were distributed, along with 7,656 bags of ice and 4,400 cases of water. Shelters closed Friday in Plaquemines Parish, outside the boundary of New Orleans' renovated $10 billion levee system. Many residents whose homes were flooded or destroyed boarded buses to go to shelters in Shreveport. A voluntary evacuation was announced in Ascension Parish, 60 miles west of New Orleans, after Lake Maurepas flooded nearby homes. A parish spokesman said flooding there was worse that from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the region in 2005. Tropical Storm Leslie in the Atlantic could affect the East Coast sometime next week, forecasters say.