we ll stay away from sports. chris, thank you. thank you, eugene. as mentioned, president obama will touch down in a couple of hours in louisiana to tour the damage of hurricane isaac. then it s charlotte or bust. plus, questions surrounding the levy system that was designed to protect new orleans. did the levy actually make flooding worse in areas outside the city? that s one of the questions being asked. and paul ryan s fish story. his reason for inaccurately stating his marathon time, of all things. it s just one of those things we thought you should know. join our conversation on twitter @tamronhall. with the spark cash card from capital one,
many there are trying to heed the advice to get out of the city. a little 90 miles from new orleans, biloxi, mississippi, where there is a curfew until 7:00 a.m. roads have been flooding there. we have been here until 5:00 a.m., making sure that we track the storm. new orleans, of course, taking a direct hit. it is a little erie that it s 7 years to the day. hit new orleans in 20 feet of water in some spots. it s the real test to see whether or not the upgraded and new levees can actually withstand this hurricane system that took after hurricane katrina. we begin our live coverage on canal street in new orleans t. looks vacant there. reporter: yeah, gregg, and jamie. you talk about the levy system. some $11 billion of improvements
in louisiana over topping. let s head to new orleans. jonathan seere is live for us. hi, jonathan. hi there. we have our local affiliate fox 8 heading down there. the levy there are reports of water over topping that. however the levy system protecting the city of new orleans so far appears to be holding very well. viewed as the first test of real storm since hurricane katrina where the levees were freed. the investment protecting that city from hurricanes like this one coming through right now. you can see the winds are really picking up. we have heavy rain and really the rains are going to be the biggest long-term threat. we talk about the storm surge
the system will cover over the state of louisiana dropping anywhere from 18-24 inches of rain after that it is still a flood issue. a lot of the area the water has nowhere to go. authorities say they have faith in the levy system. the drastic images from 2005 there is mass devastation we saw with hurricane katrina. since then the levy system has undergone a $14 billion facelift. there is more than 133 miles surrounding the city of new orleans while the number of perish parishes that protect residents they have a $550 million water pumping system. people who hunkered down feel they have faith in the levy system and believe they will be safe. hope the levees hold. appreciate elizabeth bran
system. there have been a $14 billion investment to upgrade the 133 mile stretch of levy system that protect this city as well as a number of vulnerable parishes oo thank you very much live in new orleans. the rnc could have opened and closed for business but not before they unveiled a real time debt clock to highlight the nation s soaring deficit. for this convention we also want to draw your attention to the unprecedented fiscal recklessness of the obama administration as depicted by the real time national debt clock shown here in the arena. kelly right now is live in washington with a look ahead at the rnc resuming. bottom line here is that now that tropical storm isaac has