At least 22 people have died in Central America as Tropical Storm Nate dumped heavy rain across the region.

Floodwaters from Hurricane Isaac receded today, power came on and businesses opened ahead of the US Labour Day holiday weekend, the beginning of what is certain to be a slow recovery for Louisiana.

Isaac turned into a full-blown category 1 hurricane today as it rolled over the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana, where residents in four states left boarded-up homes and New Orleans waited nervously behind flood-defence levees strengthened after the devastating Katrina struck exactly seven years ago.

TROPICAL storm Lee crawled onto southern Louisiana’s coast as New Orleans prepared for one of the biggest tests of its flood defences since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

Simon Webb, Reuters