The best way to avoid the mess is to fly over it, as Instagram user chrisbutleronline found out. (Who knew hurricanes could be so beautiful?)
Meanwhile, Isaac's landfall is wreaking havoc on the Gulf Coast: more than 500,000 homes and businesses have lost power and 12-foot waves are overtaking the levees strengthened after Katrina.
The center of the storm is moving agonizingly slow, and the worst is yet to come, according to National Hurricane Center director Richard Knabb:
Rainfall and inland flooding and river flooding are not captured by [Category 1]. The large size and the slow motion are going to make the numbers associated with those hazards quite significant.
[wp]