that will kill you. >> shepard: tonight, isaac crashes the coast. and after a storm delay, the republics make it official. >> alaska cast 18 votes for governor mitt romney. >> we are proud to cast our 50 votes. >> the garden skate proudly cast all 50 of its votes for the next president of the united states governor mitt romney. [chanting mitt] >> shepard: tonight, the g.o.p. gets a nominee and mitt romney's wife gets set for her big moment. and we'll get to all of that but, first from fox this tuesday night. hurricane isaac is on the way. the latest from forecasters is they believe it's going to come ashore right about new orleans proper leaving the entirety of the gulf coast soaked for many many hours. right now, we're in the heart of the french quarter where the rain bands have been coming and going. the storm is not expected to actually come to this area where we are standing for at least another 15 hours. yet, it's already begun. and the national hurricane center has just issued a brand new update on hurricane isaac and janice dean the weather machine live in the fox weather center with the latest from the latest. janice, to you. >> yes. and we're going to get updates overnight every two hours. the main advisories with the brand new track will still come out at 11:00 and 5:00. but in between that every two hours new updates because we're getting very close to landfall and we think it will probably make landfall overnight tonight. so, no real change, 80 mile-per-hour winds. still a hurricane. and still organizing, we could actually see some strengthening before landfall. and this is really the best-looking storm that we have seen since we have been covering isaac. so, 80 mile-per-hour winds. it has slowed down. northwest at 8 miles per hour. and there is the risk that it is going to slow down even more. it's just going to crawl across the coast and there is a lot of march here, a lot of swamp land. there we are not going to see perhaps a weakening like we would if this storm was going to go across land and go quickly. this is going to be a slow, very painful process. unfortunately for folks along the gulf coast, very vulnerable area unfortunately for storm surge and flooding. of course we know it very well. now, tornado watches in effect for the next several hours. from new orleans all the way to panama city. so parts of mississippi, alabama, you could see some strong rotation overnight tonight. these could be rain wrapped tornadoes. so you can't see them coming. know noaah weather raids on. strong band north of that region and some earlier rotations. we will keep an eye on that. shepard, already seeing wind gusts of 64 miles per hour around new orleans. 48 in mobile. and there is the track. the latest update, again, 80 miles per hour winds moving slower, northwest at 8 miles per hour expecting a landfall just west of new orleans so they are going to get the worst of the surge. the worst of the rain and battering winds for potentially 36 hours. back to you. >> shepard: it absolutely is as far as positioning goes. a worse case scenario. >> it is. >> shepard: for new orleans. when hurricane katrina was tracking toward here 7 years ago on this very night. all of the models suggested it was coming right for new orleans at the time. instead, it didn't. it took a last minute turn to the right or a turn to the east and ended up slamming the mississippi coast. that storm didn't even hit new orleans. yet, the levees failed and the city was left under 7 to 10 feet of water. a lot of that water came out of lake pontchartrain where it has been raining and hard throughout the day. casey stegall is live there on the other side of town. how is it looking on the lake? >> shepard, it's not looking good. and it's interesting when you hear janice dean talking about how this thing is still several hours away from making landfall because there have been times already where it's difficult for myself and my photographer to even stand and we're getting pounded with the rain and also the heavy winds. i wanted to show you we're getting sprayed from the lake because what's happening is the winds right now, which we have clocked at about gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. the winds are blowing very strong to the west. what that is doing is that is pushing all of the water from the lake ashore here. can you see the water blowing in and you can see it lapping ashore. what you are looking at over there, that is interstate 10. that's the interstate 10 bridge which a lot of people remember was badly, badly damaged. it was a lot of it under water during hurricane katrina. it has since been elevated and t is much higher now. and it is open. if guy could follow me this way, i want to show you, shepard, like we showed you during "studio b." right over here is the 11, which is the completely closed down because the water is coming up so high. guy, can you show down there? under the bridge you see the water is really coming up here. and, you know, that's why this roadway has been closed down like i said, hours away from really hitting us hard, shepard. >> shepard: casey, it's going to hit the lower lying areas in the southern end of the parish sometime in the next 10 hours or so. but it will be midday or so tomorrow before it reaches your location and even our location here, at least the storm itself, the eye of that storm. you wonder what that area is going to look like after 36 hours of pounding rain. you really do because we have been out here for the better part of the day and the conditions have just gradually deteriorated and when you already see water blowing up like on this the land. roadways closed down and extreme gusts of wind you can only really wonder what's going to happen when the real brunt of this storm actually hits us we talked to a couple of people who live around here. most of the area not under any kind of a mandatory evacuation. most of it is voluntary. some people say that they are getting out of here and they were going to stay with family further inland. places like texas. we talked to a couple fishermen who live just about a mile from here. one guy who is actually going to ride this storm out in a shipping container. it is extremely dangerous. but the louisiana law enforcement officials are saying they cannot force anyone out of their home a louisiana state trooper came up here earlier and said that it seems like for the most part people around the lake have heeded evacuation warnings and have left. people with good memories of seven years ago tomorrow. casey stegall live here in the new orleans area. this is the french quarter, bourbon street here. i have never seen it this shut down, ever. and 40 years of coming here and 9 hurricanes covered here. this is the most boarded up, shutdown and evacuated i have ever seen the french quarter. our friends at the local fox station tell us they have never seen it either. folks who live here day in and day out say the level of evacuation here, he is especially no mandatory evacuation. only when the storm is a category 3. pleased how many people have some things are. some people carrying on life and the rest. these clouds coming in whipping in over these buildings, in fact with the buildings in the foreground. can you see how quickly they're moving. those bands just whipping around the city proper. by the middle of the night. it's going to be very wet and will be very wet for the next day and a half or so. ed fleming is with us from the army corps of engineers which has been working for the better past of the last seven years and decades before that to get these levees right. 20 inches of rain, somewhere between 10 and 20 inches of rain. spotty in different areas. handle that? were comfortable with the preparations. execution mode right now. happy with the way things are going at this point. >> shepard: colonel, what is still on the drawing board? what is yet to be done. i know the levee right across the water here still needs some attention. just got a bunch of money. that's going to be years away. >> shep, at this point the post katrina work the $14.6 billion that we were appropriated. we are about $10 billion into that. the perimeter system is just about intact and complete. so, there are lots of other things that we have to do. some other interior work. again the perimeter system is complete. it's the best system that the greater new orleans system has ever seen. >> shepard: storm surge of 7 to 11 feet it sounds like. 8 to 13, maybe, on the outside. that's a level that you can handle? >> yeah. you know prior to hurricane katrina this system would have been built on one particular hurricane. since katrina we have learned a lesson. we have a suite of 132 hurricanes coming in different intensities and different sizes. we put them into a model and that's how we come up with a design system like this. not one hurricane. a lot of hurricanes have had a projected track of what this one has to come in west of the city proper which is a worse case scenario for the city new orleans. everyone knows that thankfully not as strong as others have been but it's moving mighty slowly. >> it is. it's moving slow. it's going to give us a lot of rain. but there is also going to be a significant amount of surge. the surge barrier which we built recently finished recently, it closed buttoned that down and that can withstand the comments of 100 year storm. isaac does not show any characteristics of the 100 year storm. 26 feet high and we think we'll probably see surges out in that area in about the 10 or 15 feet high level. again, would we think we are in pretty good shape. >> shepard: the pumping stations were below sea level including here. have to get the water out of here and put it somewhere. it has more of a mr. now than it did before. used to drain out now there is a place to go. >> when you get into whether it's a hurricane evacuation or flood fight like we had last spring. it's a team sport. we work very very closely not only with the city of new orleans, the state of louisiana it is in fact a multitiered response when you get into situations like this. so, we co-locate people in pump stations not only from the city of new orleans but from the federal government, from the corps of engineers. that's the only way to do this thing is by having face-to-face. >> shepard: thank you very much. he is talking about lee last year, tropical storm lee came. in most of the nation probably didn't notice t because it came in the second week of september. we were marking 10 years since the attacks of 9/11 at the time that that thing came ashore. it left 14 to 16 inches of water, of rain in jefferson parish, louisiana. and they had a lot of flooding. they have done a lot of work since then and they think things will be better. as you look. this is beinville street. everything on that level is closed. if you look down here past our satellite truck. this is perpendicular to bourbon street. nothing and nobody on the streets. extremely rare for this city at hurricane time for everybody to just get the heck out. but it appears they have either done that or they are at home and watching it on television. i want to go to a storm chaser. i got word that we have somebody in mississippi right now. jenna, if you could help me back in the booth with who that is. reed timer is with us. where are you in mississippi and what are you seeing? >> we are in waveland. right near the louisiana/mississippi border. especially storm surge prone area because the way that the coast line is shaped. it's kind of concave here. we have very very strong easterly winds. probably gusting to hurricane force. probably at least strong tropical storm force winds. flooding here. beach boulevard is totally under water. probably a couple feet of water at least. we have had the parking lot here at the casino in waveland basically become a part of the gulf of mexico. it's really bad in terms of storm surge here and the hurricane is still well offshore. >> shepard: reed tim member -- timmer. also go to rick leventhal in alabama. we will go to our correspondent steve harrigan who is live in south mississippi as well. we'll have further coverage from the new orleans area. there is a big deal going on at the republic national convention in tampa. greg jarrett going to take you through that greg, good evening. >> good evening, shep it is a big night. let's take a live look inside the tampa bay times forum right now. the republic convention is underway storm delay. john boehner also chairman of the convention will be gaveling in tonight's evening session. he will be out in just a moment now. less than an hour ago the tally the delegate votes put governor mitt romy over the top speaker boehner will be out in just a moment to make it official. but, as we said an hour ago, let's take a listen to what happened. >> please, give a very warm welcome -- >> -- well, we were going to play you the moment when itspeal be out in just a moment. a full slate of speakers and entertainment tonight. here is the speaker so let's listen. in. ♪ ♪ >> delegates, alternates, ladies and gentlemen, the convention will be in order. [gavel] you know, we begin tonight with a fundamental question. can we do better? >> yes. the answer in my view is obvious. you bet we can you know, the american people are still asking the question where are the jobs president obama only offers excuses instead of answers. his record is a shadow of his rhetoric. yet, he has the nerve to say that he is moving us forward and the audacity to hope that we are going to believe him. allow me to illustrate. you know, i'm what you would call a regular guy with a big job. i have got 11 sisters and brothers and my dad on the bar in cincinnati. i worked there growing up, mopping falls, working tables and tending bar. believe me when i say i have learned to deal with every character who walked in the door. so let's say right now some guy walked into our bar full of guys looking for work, having a tough go of it and the guy said well, the private sector is doing fine. you know what we would do? that's right, we would throw him out. think about this a guy walked into our bar paying more for healthcare and gas and paying more for everything and this guy says well, we are better off than what we would have been you know what we would do. we would throw him out. [cheers] [ applause ] now if aguy walked into our bar full of folks who couldn't tell you the last time they got a raise, whether their house was above water and the guy said well, we tried our economic plan and it worked. you know what we would do. we would throw him out. let's say a guy walked into our bar and before he said anything a regular telling his story. turned out in guy ran a small business, got involved in it while he was in school. then, outs of nowhere his business partner died. they had just one customer. so he fought like hell through sleepness nights and close calls and they made it, thank god. paid their dues, proud of what they had managed to do. now, if a guy walked into a bar and heard that story and said well, if you have got a business, you didn't build that. well, you know what we would do with him, don't you? we would throw him out. [applause] by the way that small business guy is my story. that was our business and we did build that. but, you know, it could have just as easily been the story of anyone who has built something from nothing. no guarantees, no government there to hold your hand. just a dream and a desire to do better. president obama doesn't get this he can't fix the economy so he doesn't know how it was built. in 70 days when the people walk into the voting booth what should we do? we should throw him out because we can do better. we can do a lot better. and t starts with throwing out the politician who doesn't get it and electing a new president who does. [cheers] mitt romney comes from a family of builders. his father built houses, built businesses, built industry. george romney was a can-do kind of guy and who was fond of the old saying that when things are at their worst, that's just the place and the time that the tide will turn. well, delegates, this is that time and this is that place. [cheers and applause] we're here to preserve this country the same way we built it. by exercising our god-given right to set a new course. so who better to turn this tide -- >> if you would like to watch all of speaker boehner's comments and in fact everything that's happening tonight at the republic national convention, you can catch it at foxnews.com. we are streaming live, again, foxnews.com. and, if you want to know the latest, what's happening in new orleans, shepard smith is there live with the team of reporters. we will be back in just a moment with the report. s. that's a big 10-4 kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog. trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. thr claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can trust '. unlike randy. are you in good hands? >> shepard: 21 minutes past the hour live on bourbon street. french quarter in new orleans. bands of rain are coming into new orleans. the worst of the storm will be here overnight and into tomorrow through the tomorrow and into the next day. right now we are on lake pontchartrain. surf is up. casey stegall. first to reed timmer winds have gotten strong. >> we have had intense band coming through. every times intense band comes through intense more and waters will rise. the parking lot has become part of the gulf of mexico just off the casino here waveland, mississippi. right neither louisiana, mississippi border. the way that the shoreline is oriented here. all those easterly winds are piling the water into marsh land around sea level and even below. it's definitely a worse case scenario here in terms of this hurricane. in terms of the track. but thankfully this isn't going to a category 3 hurricane or it could have been a lot worse. the flooding we are seeing here is really bad in waveland. >> >> shepard: reid, we know there is a loft rain. we were expecting that waveland is a town that during hurricane katrina was almost literally wiped off the map. if you were to look at the coast of mississippi. the far left side. the western edge of the state of mississippi, before we get to louisiana, that's where waveland is. a small town where people have been living through hurricanes since camille back in the 60's. i'm telling you, it took the foundations of homes and washed them away. you remember the pictures from there. reed, you are not going to get that i wonder if they are prepared for all this flooding? >> yeah. i mean, very resilient people here. that's for sure. as we were driving into our location here in waveland, which is right next to a casino that has a five floor parking garage. as this water rises we will will keep going up in the floors of the parking garage. as we were driving out here you could see what was left over from that damage from katrina. you could see a lot of the tree damage and you could see probably at least 20, 30 feet of water easily. thankfully we won't have that. but there is enough water with this storm surge to cause foe tenelly catastrophic damage for low lying areas around here waveland and new orleans and far south of louisiana. >> >> shepard: reed timmer from mississippi. mississippi coast as well. i understand steve is up and with us now. you are in biloxi gulfport? >> that's right, shepard. where the rain has picked up over the last hour or so, some gusts of 20 to 30 miles per hour. the most dramatic thing that we have seen so far really is that rising water. it's creeping up towards highway 90. officials have been urging people to evacuate through the much of the state. governor saying if you have relatives in northern mississippi, get there. three of the lower lying counties including hancock are under mandatory evacuations. that means 175,000 people from those three counties are on the move. so some significant movement. we have seen people here stopping in stores, buying what they can and really heading out. the state has 24 shelters open. they have really been beefed up over the last seven years. they can handle 200 mile-per-hour winds. we have talked to a number of people inside those shelters. what you see in those shelters usually high school the old and a lot of single mothers and their children. really people, some of whom have no choice and heading though those shelters now. red cross workers in there. they are handing out emergency medical splice as well as mre's. one counselor told us if we keep these people well-fed they stay a lot calmer. many of them suffering seven years ago and now going through it all again this week, shepard. >> shepard: you can seat national guard is out in force tonight it's our understanding 4,000 membered in the national guard from the state of louisiana have been deployed in case they are needed in this situation. they think the majority of their problems are going to be surrounded around all the flooding. it's possible that the drainage systems and pumping systems will be able to handle all the water. they think they would be under normal circumstances in a hurricane if there is such a thing. the problem with this hurricane is the rain is going to be so intense for so long according to our meteorologist back at the fox weather center in new york. 36 hours of constant rain beginning after sundown tonight. somewhere after midnight and lasting obviously for a day and a half. not a lot of fun. dolphin island in alabama is taking a beating as well. our correspondent rick leventhal is there get to him in a bit. monitoring developments at the republic national convention down in tampa. a very big night for ann romney. our man bret baier and megyn kelly will have all the coverage there it's a big night on fox news channel. we're glad to have you with us on this special edition bourbon street in the heart of the french quarter in new orleans. our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? 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>> like why said at the top of the hour we have seen wind gusts here up to 40 miles per hour. the rain is really coming down. what's happening is you are starting to seat water levels rise in lake pontchartrain. first of all, you have the wind that is blowing to the east. so it's bringing in these giant white caps that are coming in right offer these concrete barriers. hitting the shore. coming in nicely. one thing i want to talk about is it's interesting because you can see the color of the water sort of changing in the lake. it's getting a little bit more dark brown. a more muddy color storm, as you know, shepard, as it makes its way north and pushes water into from the gulf of mexico into lake bourn which connects to lake pontchartrain on the other side of i-10 there. pushing a lot of settlement into the water. standing here. right back there i-10. it is open. it is running. we have seen some 18 wheelers if can you believe it. driving over that bridge. oh in the last few hours or so. awfully scary to be driving a high profile vehicle up high like that with these kind of winds as we were saying bulk of the storm hitting where we are standing now, shepard. casey do you have a sense for when the worst of it will come to your area. models looking out from the national hurricane center that's still 10, 12 hours away. it is moving slowly as we have been talking about. that is a big concern with a lot of the local law enforcement officials and emergency management types here because we are already seeing this heavy rain. we're already seeing these incredible winds. and if this thing reaches land and sort of stalls out a little bit, or if it moves very very slowly, then we are going to have hours and hours and hours of conditions similar to these. flooding.at is not good when and when it comes to the other damage that can be done to this region, shepard. >> shepard: no mandatory evacuations in new orleans, casey. but it sounds like a lot of people there realized it was time to go. >> yeah, absolutely, you know. especially when you look at, you know, hurricane katrina and so many people remember that, like it was yesterday. it's almost eerie that it's nearly seven years to the date that that storm really scarred this area. for a lot of people when you come to this region, shepard, you have talked to them. i have talked to them. it feels like yesterday for them. when we landed at the airport we talked to a guy at the rental car agency he said he was not going to take any kind of a chance because they had a really rough time with katrina so h was going further inland. but when you talk to some folks who live around here. that are leaving on the flip side you have a handful that say they are going to ride it out. in the grand scheme of things, even though those memories of katrina are fresh in the grand scheme of things they don't believe that a strong category 1 like isaac is enough to make them get out. we did talk to a fisherman who is going to be riding the storm out. just about a mile from where i'm standing in a shipping container. we saw people getting sandbags as we were live yesterday with you in fox report in saint bernard parish going to be using those sandbags bulk up the property and defend t because they said they were going to stay and try to ride this thing out just incredible as we are standing out in the middle of this you wonder why anyone would want to stay and take a chance. >> shepard: including you i feel like a youtube moment is upon us. it seems like that is a spot where you won't be able to stabbed much longer casey. >> yeah, i know. we have literally been watching this water creeping up as we have been standing here and i'm judging it based off of those little wooden planks out there. you can see. see them right there? now, watch, when the storm comes up. the surge comes up, you cannot see them. but i have been watching kind of nice spray there. i have been watching those little logs and that's how i am trying to physically gauge as we are standing here how fast the water is rising. it's not extremely fast we should point that out a louisiana state trooper drove up here a short time ago to sort of check on us. we were talking to him and he says this is not a at this point. they see the storm surge, if you will, when they just get real heavy rains. but, yeah. and probably 5, 6 hours, where i'm standing is going to be completely under water. including this bridge if my photographer can pan over. the bridge here is the 11. it's very very low. you can see on the other side of it lake pontchartrain on the other side of that, by the way is the northern shore. we are kind of on the southeastern shore if you will. this bridge will most likely go underwater, at least portions of it that's why it's closed down. i pointed over to interstate 10 over there, shepard. it's very high. they elevated it after katrina because a lot of that was under water. a lot of it was busted up. and that is a major, major interstate that runs east and west through this state. it goes all the way to houston, texas. but the 11 right back here behind us, it's still low. and it is still most likely going to be going under water at least portions of it. >> shepard: casey stegall right on the banks of lake pontchartrain getting beat up a little bit. casey stegall, thank you. we will get back to him if he falls down or something. bourbon street is not wet at the moment. that brings the people out who have been drinking. which is always a fascinating thing. if you have ever been here you know it's a revelry kind of place. just down here is canal street. well the producers and the tech folks are in the close area. hello. down here is the canal street and it's my understanding from our correspondent nicole collins that just past the police officers down here canal is right at the end. it separates the french quarter from the central business district. there is a bit of wind damage down there as i understand. nicole collins is down there. what are you seeing? >> hey, shep. we are about a half mile from you down at canal street. we are seeing street signs wrapping around the poles. i have got one down here that i don't think my camera can reach. this sign here is bending at its base here as the ground gets saturated. over here though can i show you between these concrete slaps we have some sort of sealant that's been pulling out from there. this appears to be some sort of power source. some sort of -- i'm not sure. a lot of electricity back there. those seal atlantis are coming out. down here you can see this one way sign is supposed to be pointing at us, it's not. it's point not guilty wrong direction, wrapping around that pole. beyond that shep, you see that parking sign swinging around there. it's got one hinge left that will, i suspect come down before this storm is over, shep? >> shepard: nicole collins from the fox news edge. our affiliate news feed service who is working for affiliates across the country from canal street across the way. thanks very much, nicole. i want to get to ed rap port update on the storm where they believe it's going and what things are going to be like over the next 12 to 48 hours. what you can tell us? >> recent observations which unfortunately starting to confirm what we were expecting for wind and storm surge. if i point out new orleans right here. there is elevated platform offshore which had a wind gust to 106 miles per hour. the reason that's important, they are at 280 feet is that the upper floors of high rises in new orleans and other places getting close to 280 feet will receive some of those similar winds. so, gusts to 100 miles per hour could occur in those high rise areas. now, in terms of the storm surge, which we have been talking about as well, it's already a storm surge of 5.5 feet in the waveland, mississippi area. and in lake born, just to the east of new orleans, the storm surge is now at 8.5 feet. >> >> shepard: ed, when time are you expecting the first landfall and then about how many hours later before the brunt of it, i guess, is closest to center we will get to the city proper? >> landfall can actually be in the next hours. but it's a very large center and little difficult to see exactly where the center is at this time. it's going to be very close to where this little white ball is, the southeastern tip of louisiana. and then the center will be moving slowly to the northwest, passing just to the west of new orleans, and near baton rouge about 24 hours. so it's going to take a whole day for it to get there and, of course, new orleans is going to be on the right side, which is the stronger side. strong winds and those winds will continue to raise the storm surge from the east. >> shepard: ed, as far as winds go. katrina came in way east of here. could we expect winds similar to those that we got in new orleans in katrina during this storm since it's so far away or would this be less winds in the city proper? >> that's a very good question. yes. during katrina, new orleans got just about hurricane force winds. and while we're now sort of middle level category 1. we think they will be slow weakening so new orleans might get still hurricane force winds in isaac. so similar winds. but the surgeon -- surge won't be as high. dangerous levels of surge but not as high as occurred in katrina. >> shepard: last september lee came here as a tropical storm. and in one of the parishes just south. jefferson parish i know they got 14 to 16 inches of rain. can we expect something similar to that? >> yes. largely because of the large size of the storm as well as the slow movement. it's only moving 7 miles per hour. going to take a long time for this large pattern to transit the state of louisiana and up to the north and so we're looking at potential for 7 to 14 inches of rain. locally 20 inches of rain. obviously areas where there is rain and storm surge, the combined effects will be even worse. >> shepard: i wonder about upriver, ed, before we go, vicksburg, jackson, mississippi, memphis and st. louis, there is a lot of rain in store for all those inland cities, isn't there? >> yes, there is now, we do expect that the forward speed will increase a bit. after a day or two. but, yes, we're expecting considerable flooding. not only up the coast, mainly from storm surge but well inland because of the rainfall. >> shepard: ed rappaport at the national hurricane center busy for days to come. all the best again. >> thank you. >> shepard: the best advice from the locals here in new orleans is if you are inside and you say well, it looks like maybe i can get out and about. the best advice from the locals is don't do it. the rain bands are coming. you heard him say that within the next couple of hours the southern most tip of the state of louisiana, which is mostly unpopulated or sparsely populated will begin to get the first part of the eye wall to come ashore. of course, the eye wall wraps really tight. that's where the winds are the strongest. then it will take a full 24 hours at 7 miles per hour to get to the new orleans area. and it will come ashore just west of new orleans. or that's what they believe. there is no way to know exactly what it will do in the last minute. best projections are just to the west of new orleans. that is absolutely a worse case scenario for this city. everyone has known ever since hurricane betsy in 1965 that if a storm were to accidently come just west of new orleans, that this city of 350, 400,000 people would get the worst that it is going to get from any storm ever. thankfully, this one is a category 1. not a 3 or a 4. and thankfully the local authorities believe they are ready we shall see. coverage continues throughout the night. get back to the republic national convention. we will go to dolphin island where we have correspondents standing by in south mississippi where that land mass is going to take quite a beating over the next 24 to 48. i'm shepard smith. it's good to have you with us on fox news channel. the economy needs manufacturing. mhines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's puttg more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy his year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real thin... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ [ wife ] your dad's really giving him the business... the designated hitter's the best thing to happen to baseball! but it's not the same game! 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[ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. once you got 30 stories up -- this area where we are is the french quarter past canal street just down there is the central business district. these are the tallest buildings in the city. they go above that the sheridan here to the left sustained a lot of damage in hurricane katrina. all they got was tropical storm force winds: the national weather service is projectings 25 to 30 stories up they will get category 2 storm winds meaning 100 miles per hour or so that could do a great deal of damage. for people like the ones who own the house here in bourbon and bienville, the shutter doors have come open. sadly we will get blow in there unless they come fix it later. conditions are worse in south alabama. dolphin island always takes the brunt of storms. even in good spring storm will mess things up around there today, of course, it is windy and rainy and rick leventhal is there for us tonight. how are things looking? >> we're getting a stinging sideways rain here, shepard right now. wind speeds roughly 30 to 35 miles per hour steady. we're getting tropical storm force gusts of 39 and higher. clocked one at 48.2 within the last half hour oso. take a look out at dolphin island bay with the white caps and water smacking up against this concrete dock here. riding waves along the side of the dock. right up over our feet. keep in mind, this is low tide or low tide is about two hours away. so, tomorrow morning, when high tide hits around 9:30 local time, we expect a surge well up over this dock. possibly 3 to 5 feet if you watch these waves. some of the boards have been knocked loose on these docks down here. most most of the boats have been put away. jet ski bounced away quite a bit. jet ski come. he said his daughter was supposed to put it away. he wasn't happy about the fact that he had to clean up her mess as he put it we have been watching this cabin cruiser over there 40-foot boat and the owner is out of the country. they try to tie it down a little better. one of the pilings appears to be coming loose and that boat could see some damage as well. you see the causeway over there that was shut down earlier today to anyone coming in or leaving. closed. the island closed because of conditions on the causeway. and on the approaches to the causeway. and earlier today we also learned that the power was knocked out because of sailboat got loose on the other side of that causeway and hit a utility pole. there are power lines running from the island to the mainland and a sailboat got loose, hit the pole and knocked the power out, shepard. so this island is in the dark and probably will be for at least 48 to 72 hours. >> shepard: curfew is in effect, rick, for a number of parishes in louisiana not including this one. but some of the low lying parishes have curfews beginning 8:00 central time tonight. over there is it similar? no curfew we are aware of. only 560 homes with year around residents. many of them got out. clearly more than half the people heeded the evacuation order and left the island. other folks are not moving around as far as we can tell. hunkering down for the storm. not that bad right now. they do say the winds could easily top 150 miles per hour here people aren't braving it at the moment. think got most of the boats out of there except for the one whose owner is out of country i'm guessing. >> you can see a couple of other boats are up here on lifts. and they seem fine. probably be above whatever surge may come through. keep in mind, again, we are low tied. probably about maybe a foot above normal right now. and if they get a 3 to 5-foot storm surge, it would be at least chest high here. there will be a lot of water on land. we know on the west side of the island they shut it down. the police closed the road because there is water on the road that is goods to -- going to continue for some time. >> shepard: await the arrival of isaac. get to lake pontchartrain where the waves are kicking up as our coverage of hurricane isaac and the republic national convention continues right after this. [ female announcer ] they can be enlightening. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns toour financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. wells fargo. together we'll go far. shep shown continuing coverage of hurricane isaac now. a couple hours from making official landfall in louisiana. a couple hours or so before the eye of the storm gets in and around the new orleans area and about 48 hours before the worst of the rain is over for this part. it is going to be a long couple of days ahead of the same is true on dolphin island and alabama and lake shore of lake pontchartrain. correspondent rick leventhal in dolphin island and casey stegall along the lake shore. get to rick in alabama first. rick, how is it going? >> shepard, we just got this reading. i don't know if you can see it. 43.9 mile-per-hour gusts here. some of these waves on dolphin island bay you could surf. they are pretty significant and they are pounding us right now. conditions have been on and off good and bad throughout the day. but they do seem to be deteriorating now. we have gotten a pretty strong rainfall now. this wind as has definitely picked up. solid in the 40s pretty regularly. a strong wind blowing. rough weather ahead. certainly. the island is pretty much locked down. most of the homes were boarded up. hurricane shutters rolled down. and it appears that the majority of residents did get out. but there are still people here prepared to ride out this storm. shep? >> shepard: a lot to see overnight. rick leventhal back to you. casey stegall live at lake pontchartrain in new orleans. casey, it's my understanding you had to move away from that last location, yes? >> yeah. shep. we had to reteeth a little bit. we were standing there on the edge. and you saw all the spray that we were getting off the lake and it was really getting all of our gear wet. as you said. we have got a long ways to go. we are going to be live here on fox news channel all throughout the night so why obviously had to protect our cameras so that we can bring you reports. you can see behind us, this is just right at the shore. again, the eastern shore and the grass is pretty much just flat there. as you see the wind is blowing from the east. it's blowing westward and bringing all of this water. in i had to laugh when i heard rick leventhal talking about the sort of the rain that sort of hurts. it's the cutting rain i believe is the word he used. that's exactly what you feel when you are standing out here wind is blowing and rain is blowing right in your face. feels like razor blades. we spoke to the captain of the louisiana national guard a short time ago who told us that there is about 4600 troops that are deployed in and around the whole region. and a little more than 600 of them are in orleans parish. set up but command post is right in between the lower ninth ward and saint bernard parish where they have boats ready to go in case they have to make any kind of rescues. they have equipment available to help clear roadways and things like that as isaac continues to push its way closer and closer to southeast louisiana, shepard. >> shepard: sounds like they are as ready as can be. casey, thanks. anybody who has ever been in a boat when a storms comes up and tries to get to dock know what is that hard rain feels like. rick leventhal it's a hard thing to endure quickly, isn't it. >> yeah, it is. it's painful out here at times. we just got another gust of 49 miles per hour. nowhere near hurricane force winds. blowing us around and they say it's going to get worse, shepard. >> shepard: yes, it will, rick leventhal. we'll be right back with continuing coverage and a nod to bill o'reilly for prime time on fox news channel. ger. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. dad vo: ok, time for bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪ (sirens) (train horn) ♪ vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. >> shepard: continuing to watch isaac as we now believe it's two hours from first landfall in south louisiana. then we expect that the storm according to forecasters at the national hurricane center make its way to the new orleans area to the city proper. isaac has officially made landfall on a spec of land at the very southern tip at the state of louisiana. there are many hours left to go. a big night of prime time. of course, keep you updated on the storm's track through the prime time programming. o'reilly is coming up next. followed by hannity. in greta's regular time tonight. ann romney will make her big speech at half past 10:00 eastern time. chris christie takes tohe