Isaac Pounds Gulf Coast

Isaac stalled over southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday morning, dumping torrential rains across the Gulf Coast and pounding low-lying areas with 8- to 10-foot storm surges and 75-mph winds. The National Hurricane Center warned that hurricane conditions would persist all day and into the evening for storm-battered coastal residents.

The huge, slow-moving storm knocked down trees and power lines, flooded roads and highways and sent bands of wind and rain pelting an area from New Orleans to the Florida panhandle. Isaac, a Category 1 hurricane, is expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm late Wednesday as it slowly crawls north toward Arkansas and the Mississippi River Valley.

Beryl Barrels to U.S. Coast

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the entire Georgia coastline, as well as parts of Florida and South Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Beryl was technically still considered a “subtropical storm,” but the system is expected to bring winds and rain to the area regardless of its official classification.

Tropical storm conditions — meaning maximum sustained winds of 45 mph — could reach the coast as early as Saturday night. Three to six inches of rain are forecast for the area. Some coastal flooding is forecast, as the rain could cause high tides.

As of 8 p.m. EDT Saturday, Beryl was still centered about 220 miles east-southeast of Charleston, S.C. It had become stronger, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. It was moving southwest at 6 mph, with its center expected to be near the coast by late Sunday.

Beryl could dump heavy rain in the coastal counties of Georgia, and will bring a chance of rain to metro Atlanta by the end of the holiday weekend.

Until then, metro Atlantans can expect hot and dry weather on Saturday and Sunday, with afternoon highs climbing to within a degree or two of the 94-degree record set in 1936.

10 Months to Remove Cruise Ship in Italy

The Costa Concordia will take up to 10 months to remove, officials said Sunday, as rough seas off the Italian coast forced the suspension of recovery operations.

Officials called off both the start of operations to remove of 500,000 gallons of fuel and the search for people still missing after determining the Costa Concordia had moved four centimeters (an inch and a half) over six hours, coupled with waves of more than three feet.  An Italian professor said the ship could keep moving until it settles inthe seabed.

Sixteen crew and passengers remain listed as missing, with one body recovered from the ship not yet identified.

Hurricane Jova Heads to Mexico

Jova strengthened into a major hurricane over the Pacific Ocean, packing winds of as much as 120 miles per hour as it moved toward Mexico.

The storm was about 265 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, at 2 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time and moving east at 5 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Jova is now a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, indicating it’s capable of causing “devastating damage.”

“Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, followed by little change in intensity until landfall,” the NHC said on its website. The center of the hurricane will near Mexico’s coast by tomorrow afternoon, it said.

The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for Punta San Telmo north to Cabo Corrientes, and a tropical-storm warning from Lazaro Cardenas to south of Punta San Telmo, the advisory showed.

Irwin, another tropical storm in the Eastern Pacific, is 790 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California with winds of 50 mph, down from hurricane strength earlier.