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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.

We've been hearing, all morning, reports of Hurricane Isaac coming ashore along the gulf coast, and we're going, now, to Craig Fugate. He is the FEMA Administrator, the Federal Emergency Management Agency - and he is spending the morning on the gulf coast. Mr. Fugate, where are you now?

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now, Greg mentioned Plaquemines Parish. Look at a map of Louisiana and you'll see that parish, a finger of land sticking far out into the Gulf of Mexico. Jennifer Hale of WVUE Television is in the parish, spent the night there. And Ms. Hale, where are you now?

The eye of Isaac made its first landfall at Plaquemines Parish, a stretch of thin land southeast of New Orleans that extends into the Gulf from Louisiana.

According to the parish president, the damage there is just as bad, perhaps even worse, than what happened during Katrina.

In an interview with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep, Billy Nungesser said the parish's levee had been overtopped and parts of the parish that had never flooded during a hurricane were under 5 feet of water.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Hurricane Isaac made landfall last night in Louisiana and it is battering the Gulf Coast with high winds and a lot of rain. For the latest we turn to NPR's Greg Allen. He's in New Orleans and we have reached him by telephone. And Greg, give us a sense of this storm. It sounds like, you know, Category 1, which, you know, makes you not worry so much, but a lot of people fearing that it could just stay in one place for a good while.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

People naturally focus on New Orleans, a great American city that is below sea level in many places, but you cannot understand the full effect of the storm without moving along the Gulf Coast. Mississippi, for example, has faced high water, tropical storm-force winds and pounding rain. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF WIND AND SURF)

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: As Isaac moves ashore near the mouth of Mississippi River in neighboring Louisiana, outer bands of the hurricane swept into Gulfport, Mississippi.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Hurricane Isaac has produced what TV writers might call a spin off - a second storm detached itself from the hurricane and its effects are being felt far from the Gulf Coast.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This mass of moist air detached itself from Isaac and moved up the Atlantic Coast, and yesterday dumped nearly eight inches of rain over South Carolina. The rain caused flooding in Charleston, including the city's historic downtown market. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Let's get one perspective on Hurricane Isaac from Billy Nungesser. He is president of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. If you look at a map of Louisiana, you'll see Plaquemines, that finger of land sticking far out into the Gulf of Mexico, the farthest reach of the Mississippi River Delta. And he's on the line from there.

Mr. Nungesser, welcome to the program.

BILLY NUNGESSER: How are you today?

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Water has been slopping over at least one levee in Louisiana this morning. The levee is down the Mississippi River from New Orleans, near the place where Hurricane Isaac came ashore. So far, the storm has caused street flooding along much of the Gulf Coast and left hundreds of thousands of people without power. But the full-scale of its effects will depend in part on just how long Isaac sticks around.