jon: the state of alabama may have escaped the worst of hurricane isaac, but the big problem is flooding. coastal areas could see up to 8 feet of storm surge. that is in addition to nearly a foot of rain. we will talk with the vice chief of staff and spokesman for alabama s national guard. i know from covering hurricanes that it can often take a while to get the damage assessments in. you have power out, people can t call. you can t get helicopters in the area to look things over. based on what you have seen and heard, how is your state doing? good morning, and thank you for having me here this morning. i also want to let you know that we are thinking about and praying for our neighbors. people that are really impacted by the storm. i know that they would do the same for us. right now, we are looking at the
bit and we expect that to start falling back out. i think we are going to see the wind affect a change in the next several hours. so i don t know that it s going to get any worse to the east of us. we are just going to walk into the west. jenna: edwin nash, we really appreciate your time and expertise area thank you so much. thank you, jenna be one hurricane isaac is sparking new worries about the oil markets. as you know, a lot of rigs in the gulf had to shut down because of that oncoming hurricane. this comes as gas prices spiked upwards. the national average of $2.80 per gallon of regular. that is up roughly a nickel from yesterday. the white house is watching closely, saying all options are on the table when it comes to the strategic petroleum reserve. peter barnes with the fox business network and watching
all of us live from washington. peter, what can you tell us? the gulf accounts for 20% of total u.s. oil production and about 7% of natural gas. the government says that isaac has disrupted about 93% of oil and 67% of natural gas production. as for that critical refining capacity, the government estimates the storm has cut production by more than 900,000 barrels per day. about 12% of total capacity. all of this did send the prices a bit. but fortunately, isaak largely missed the production platforms so there has been little damage to them. and oil prices have actually come down on that news. news yesterday that crude inventories are actually much higher than expected. for now, analysts say that will lessen any need to tap the strategic petroleum reserve. just look at the market.
jon: is it scary? i m assuming it s your first hurricane. yes, it is definitely something i ve never experienced before. these winds are pretty brutal. i ve never seen trees been like this in my entire life. jon: well, we hope that this hurricane isaac blows over and get out of there so that you can get on with your college career at tulane. collin chanel, thank you so much for talking with us. thank you. i really appreciate you having me. have a good one be to college is all about learning different things in different ways. jon: also new challenges. jenna: as we continue to attract hurricane isaac, we have live pictures as well from gulfport, mississippi. it is hard to make it out there. our viewers in the gulf coast are sending is very dramatic photos of the storm. we will share some of the images and what you are seeing on the ground coming up next. we believt
the army corps of engineers to say that flood protection system is holding up so far, but there is worth one levee south of new orleans flooded over, trapping some people in their homes. rescue curies enforced wait for the winds die down you can search and rescue. isaac came ashore with a wall of water nearly 11 feet high. the main highway that runs along the gulf coast and mississippi shut down because of the flooding. heavy rain and flooding our big concerns in alabama as well with forecasters saying the storm surge could be as much as 8 feet of him. we have our eyes on isaac as it continues its very slow track in length. we have live fox coverage with reporters all across the gulf coast. throughout the hour on happening now. first, brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: we are live at the republican national convention in tampa, florida.actions from g