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Hurricane Isaac shuts down Louisiana port

Jeff Horwich Aug 29, 2012
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Hurricane Isaac shuts down Louisiana port

Jeff Horwich Aug 29, 2012
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There are reports of water flowing over at least one levee near the Louisiana coast. Hurricane Isaac is more or less parked there for the moment. Port Fouchon is the industrial heart of the New Orleans coast, about 60 miles south of New Orleans. And it is shut down.

Chett Chaisson is the port authority’s executive director — evidently not getting much sleep because we reached him very early in the day. He says the strong winds have caused some damage, but that they may have seen the worst and averted disaster.

He says the port services 18 percent of the U.S. oil supply.

“We anticipate, through Wednesday, we will have to keep things shut down and be able to assess things, make sure it’s safe for people to come in — for our businesses to set up their facilities and get things moving,” Chaisson says.

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