New Orleans avoids worst of Hurricane Isaac

Hurricane Isaac sidestepped New Orleans, sending the worst of its howling wind and heavy rain into a cluster of rural fishing villages with few defences against the slow-moving storm that could bring days of unending rain.

Isaac arrived exactly seven years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the high winds and sheets of rain appeared to be no match for a levee system bolstered by $14bn (€11.15bn) in government repair and improvement cash after catastrophic failures during Katrina.