what was in place when katrina hit. this storm of course is no katrina. and so we, we feel comfortable the system as designed will perform the way we think it will. reporter: after katrina swamped the levees and the city, almost every levee was reinforced or rebuilt entirely. that s 133 miles of work over the last seven years. an example, the 17th street canal. during katrina, it breached, flooding the entire neighborhood of lakeview. a temporary series of pumps and 11 gates, 11 tons apiece, separate the storm surge that comes across lake pontchartrain and the canal and new orleans. the people here say they re ready too. now travel is being affected. see the road closed signs in the far distance. vulnerable streets being shut down. hearing floodgates are closing within an hour. and all of this coming together as most flights are canceled here to new orleans. ginger zee, abc news, new
before the storm hits and the power is out. isaac could bring a foot and a half of rain and levels rising in florida. people in low lying areas have evacuated. some with pets in new orleans, city leaders and engineering expressing confidence that levees will prevent a flood disaster. abc s ginger zee reports from new orleans. tropical storm isaac. strong winds, rain, storm surge. reporter: in new orleans they re not taking any chances. we are going to leave later today. reporter: reminders of the 2005 disaster is everywhere, and anxiety is high. will we evacuate? will we not evacuate? will it be a level 1 or 3 or better? reporter: linda lost her home in katrina. we had nine feet of water in our home. reporter: she moved back a few months ago. we are hoping the corps of engineers has done their job this time. reporter: the corps says they have. are you ready? we feel confident. it s almost not comparable to what was in place when katrina hit.
gulf coast anywhere from new orleans over through, say, biloxi, mississippi. kind of right in that target zone for a category 1 land fall with some of that storm surge upwards of 6 to 8 feet, tam ron, in areas of course hit very hard by katrina almost seven years to the date. i m in tampa, just outside the convention center, the forum behind me. so far, isaac has played fairly nice with the republicans. aside from delaying activity from the dee, making it a three-day instead of four-day convention, we really have gotten just wind and rain. none of the widespread flooding we were fearing, because look how low the facilities are on the water. it really doesn t take much, just a couple of feet of water rise to create a huge problem here for the 50 to 70,000 delegate and visitors here for the convention. couple of changes to the convention, i should mention. governor from louisiana announced a short time ago he
this is enhanced infrared satellite. where you see the bright colors, that shows strong thunderstorms over the top of the center of circulation. likely to strengthen as we head forward. heavy rainfall in place through the day, central, southern florida, tampa area. that with gusty winds, many spots, tropical storm force if not higher. rob, paula. back to you. thank you, jim. the difficult part, wednesday, as we were saying, the seven-year anniversary since katrina hit, louisiana. of course, we know the horrific scene the storm left behind. psychologically, a hit to city. here we go this awful week in new orleans history. here the storm comes again. important to note that billions of dollars have been spent upgrading that city s storm protection system in the seven years since katrina hit. really, a different city storm protection-wise than it was seven years ago. they re hoping this could be a really good test run for the system. and see really how well new
will not be come together convention to speak. he was scheduled to speak wednesday evening. he has his plate full in his home state dealing with isaac. also governor rick scott did not attend and has been dealing with isaac the last couple of days. now that storm shifted west, that track well off-shore. we are not expecting any major disruptions here in tampa. all eyes, instead, on new orleans and the gulf coast for taking a direct hit from isaac. all right, julie, thank you very much. with me now is jefferson parish. thank you for your time. sure. is there a mandatory evacuation order in for your parish? a lot of people know the name jefferson parish after hurricane katrina and the devastation there. only people outside the levy protection system. that is the communities of crown point, la feet, and of course grand isle. how many people? 9,000 people. that s the only areas that have