Drought-relief as Issac leaves behind outages

NEW ORLEANS -- As the remnants of Hurricane Isaac pushed their way up the Mississippi Valley Saturday, spinning off severe thunderstorms and at least two tornadoes, some on the Gulf Coast were impatient with the pace of restoring power days after the storm dragged through the region.

While New Orleans streets were bustling again and workers were returning to offshore oil rigs, thousands of evacuees couldn't return home to flooded low-lying areas of Louisiana and more than 400,000 sweltering electricity customers in the state remained without power.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said two tornadoes touched down in rural areas of north-central Illinois. There were no reports of damage. By midday Saturday, the storm had dumped up to 5 inches of rain in parts of Illinois.

The National Weather Service said it was bringing more rain and some drought relief to parts of the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

In Louisiana, the number without power was down from more than 900,000. However, in heavily populated Jefferson Parish near New Orleans, parish president John Young said Entergy Corp. was too slow in restoring electricity.

"I don't see boots on the ground," said Young, who complained that he has seen repair trucks sitting idle in a staging area and fielded calls from residents and business owners complaining about a lack of progress.

"We've restored about 45 percent of our customers in about a day and a half," Entergy spokesman Chanel Lagarde said. He added that crews have come in from 24 states.

Parts of coastal Plaquemines Parish, where thousands were evacuated, remained under water. But in the waterlogged town of Lafitte, Mayor Tim Kerner was allowing property owners and residents to return and begin cleaning up.

Meanwhile, Gulf of Mexico oil platforms were being repopulated after Isaac forced shutdown of most Gulf oil production.

In New Orleans, most of the downtown area and the French Quarter had power again Saturday. The annual Southern Decadence festival, a celebration of gay culture, was under way. And the Superdome, which sustained minor damage, prepared to host a Saturday night football game between Tulane and Rutgers.