Families face grim wait in the dark as Isaac grinds on

BELLE CHASSE: Storm-weary residents hunkered down for a hot, wet and windy wait on Wednesday as Hurricane Isaac slowed to storm force but looked set to linger over southern Louisiana.

Officials urged residents to stay indoors and warned it would be at least a day before winds calmed enough for crews to try to repair downed power lines, which meant a half a million people would spend another night in the dark.

Dozens of people who refused to heed mandatory evacuation orders were trapped by flood waters after a massive storm surge rolled water over the levees protecting low-lying Plaquemines Parish overnight.

The pressure from the pounding waves remained so strong that engineers were considering puncturing at least one levee to release some of the water.

Some 118 people were rescued by midday and at least 25 more were still waiting on their rooftops in the pouring rain and pounding winds, parish president Billy Nungesser said.

Damage from Isaac was worse than that wrought by Katrina in some areas of this narrow strip of land south of New Orleans, Nungesser said, citing his own home as an example.

"I stopped there to change clothes earlier. Part of my roof is missing. The back wall has moved and the water is being pushed through the bricks into the house," he said.

Sharon Sylvia said she spent the night trapped on her roof, calling for help that didn't arrive until morning.

"Water's over the top of the roof," she told WWL television. "We had to break through the ceiling and out through the attic. It's very bad down there. Very bad."

About 350 people were crammed into three emergency shelters by midday Wednesday and officials were working on opening more after ordering the evacuation of another 3,000 threatened by the flooding in the parish.