As Tropical Storm Isaac grazed the Florida Keys with less force than was feared, hurricane warnings have been issued for the Gulf Coast from Central Louisiana to the Florida panhandle with Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana declaring state of emergencies ahead of the storm's landfall.
Isaac is expected to strengthen to a weak Category 2 or Category 1 hurricane before making landfall along the Gulf Coast by Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Hurricane warnings were issued from east of Morgan City, La. -- which includes New Orleans -- to Destin, Fla.
If it hits the Gulf Coast Wednesday morning, as forecasters said is possible, it would come on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which killed hundreds of people and flooded 80 percent of New Orleans. A hurricane hasn't hit the Gulf Coast since Ike in 2008.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect for a section of Louisiana's Gulf Coast from Morgan City to Intracoastal City. Tropical storm warnings were also in effect for many areas along Florida's Gulf Coast.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu admitted anxiety levels are high.
"The timing of this storm coming on, as fate would have it, the anniversary of Katrina, has everybody in a state and sense of alertness and that is a good thing," he said Sunday.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and said he's "strongly advising" people in low lying areas of coastal Louisiana to evacuate ahead of the storm. St. Charles Parish officials told the parish's 53,000 residents to leave ahead of the storm.
"There is a 70 to 80 percent chance we'll have tropical storm winds in southeast Louisiana and again as it moves west you'll see more of our state could potentially be covered, by those wind warnings," Jindal said on Sunday.
As of 5 a.m. EST, Isaac's winds were whipping at 65 mph and expected to strengthen as it moves over the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico. To be considered a Category 1 hurricane, winds have to be 74 mph or higher. Much of South Florida remained under a tornado watch early Monday as the remnants of Isaac moved across the area.
Storm surges along the Gulf Coast could reach at least 12 feet with up to 15 inches of rain. The center of the storm is about 180 miles southwest of Fort Myers, Fla., and 405 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the National Hurricane Center. Due to the western shift in the path of Isaac, a tropical storm watch has been extended to Texas.
"With winds of that strength, one of the greatest concerns is storm surge, where the water will be moving ashore, blown in by the winds," said Ed Rappaport, forecaster with the National Hurricane Center.
Since the storm is apparently moving further west, the Tampa Bay area is not expected to be affected as much as was previously thought. Fears that Isaac would pound Tampa on Monday led GOP officials to decide to postpone the start of the Republican National Convention, which was scheduled to begin Monday.
Overnight, Isaac dumped more than eight inches of rain on South Florida, flooding many streets.
A tropical storm warning is still in effect for Tampa Bay and Miami, Fla. Tampa Bay is seeing occasional gusty winds up to 30 mph within some rain bands. This type of weather will continue through the morning and then improve dramatically in the afternoon. The highest wind gust was 70 mph in the Florida Keys. Wind gusts in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale were 60 to 66 mph.
Nearly one million students in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties will remain home on Monday with all public and Catholic schools closed.
In Alabama, residents were advised to start evacuating Monday morning ahead of the storm. Elizabeth Saunders of the Red Cross in Mobile, Ala., says a state of emergency declaration Sunday will help them assist residents.
"That means that they can move resources to help down here to help us and then they can help people after the storm passes through as well," said Saunders. "Because we do live on the Gulf coast we have past experience with these types of things and so they're doing what they know to do to prepare their homes, prepare their families."
Airlines cancelled 742 flights by Sunday afternoon with airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale cancelling 589, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware. Overall, airliners have cancelled 184 flights for Monday but expect to be operating normally by late Monday, according to FlightAware.
ABC News' Dean Schabner, Max Golembo; ABC News Radio and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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