Gulf coast feeling Isaac's effects

NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Isaac was downgraded Wednesday to a tropical storm but continued to pound Louisiana with heavy rains and damaging winds. Flooding in hard-hit Plaquemines Parish, about 10 miles southeast of New Orleans, forced authorities to announce they would purposely puncture an 18-mile levee there to relieve the strain as soon as weather allowed and equipment could be moved in. Airlines servicing Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport canceled all commercial flights for Thursday. Isaac started losing strength earlier in the day, and was carrying maximum sustained winds of 60 mph late Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center reported. As of 11 p.m. ET, the storm was located about 15 miles south of Baton Rouge and 70 miles west-by-northwest of New Orleans. It was moving to the northwest at 6 mph. The highest official rainfall total so far from the storm was 17 inches recorded in New Orleans, though an unofficial total of 22.5 inches was reported in Arabi,