When do they leave?

And if people ignore the evacuation order, what then? Who will get the blame then?

Thanks for the new word. Now to work lahar into a conversation.

A slow-moving giant of a system, Tropical Storm Isaac early Tuesday was making its way toward landfall, most likely as a Category 1 hurricane, along the Louisiana or Mississippi coast Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

"The wind hasn't quite gotten there yet," National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said of Isaac's 70 mph sustained winds, four miles below hurricane strength.

But Isaac was still expected to become a hurricane, and Knabb said "rain bands will become more frequent and more potent" along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast as the day goes on.

Isaac is very wide as storms go, with tropical storm-force winds stretching 205 miles from its center.

Its size and slow motion, Knabb said, will make for a large storm surge, especially in southeast Louisiana where surges up to 12 feet are predicted.

The fact that a tropical storm's winds move counterclockwise will make matters worse, especially for New Orleans if Isaac makes landfall to the west of the city as some models suggest.

"That counterclockwise direction is really a big problem," NBC meteorologist Al Roker said Tuesday on TODAY. "As it continues to bring in those winds from the southeast it's going to be piling water up."

Rainfall of 7-14 inches across the region is likely, and a few places could even see 20 inches, Knabb said.

Residents should expect "a lot of hazards to contend with, even isolated tornadoes" are possible Tuesday and into Wednesday, Knabb said.

At 8 a.m. ET, the center of the storm was located about 105 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and had top sustained winds of 70 mph.

Tropical Storm Isaac is more than just a logistical inconvenience for Republicans gathered in Tampa: it is a powerful reminder both of Republican incompetence in handling Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, and the party’s no-less-disastrous plans to further cut emergency-related spending.

That is not something you will hear Paul Ryan talk about this week at the convention, nor any of the other lawmakers who make simplistic promises about the power of slashing government spending. But the budgets assembled by Mr. Ryan and warmly embraced by Mitt Romney severely cut spending for emergency preparedness, exactly the kind of money needed in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and scores of other states for this and future storms.

Between 2010 and 2012, House Republicans forced a reduction of 43 percent in the primary grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that pay for disaster preparedness. That is $1.8 billion that will not be available for evacuation equipment and supplies, communications gear that lets first responders speak to one another, and training exercises. (House Republicans tried to cut $354 million more in this year’s homeland security spending bill, but Democrats restored the money in a conference with the Senate.)

That spending was enormously useful during last year’s tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala. Although the effects of the cuts will not be felt yet as gulf states deal with this week’s storm, they will leave the region less prepared for future hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.

The New Orleans area, in particular, will rely this week on $14 billion in levee construction, pumps and other flood control structures built by the Army Corps of Engineers since Katrina. But the corps’s construction budget has been cut by 21 percent since 2009 because of Republican pressure, hitting flood prevention especially hard.

Even FEMA’s most important activity, its response to disasters, has been held hostage by the demands of Tea Party Republicans in the House — including Mr. Ryan — for smaller government. Last year, when it looked as if FEMA might exceed its budget after a spate of disasters, House Republicans demanded that any further spending be offset by cuts in other programs they disliked.

Squeezing one program to pay for another has become a familiar Tea Party technique, but it is particularly reprehensible when emergency response is at stake. Eventually, after Democrats refused to go along, Republicans backed off.

One of the themes of the Tampa convention will be the failure of government, and the prosperity that will result if it is cut to ribbons. But in a different corner of the television screen, the winds of Isaac are a reminder of the necessity of government — its labor, its expertise, its money — in the nation’s most dire moments. It is hard to forget what happened to New Orleans when that Republican philosophy was followed in 2005, and it will be harder still to explain how it might be allowed to happen again.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on August 28, 2012, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: The Storm, Again.

After all, we don't want a repeat.of Katrina, especially since the repubs aren't in power to get blamed.

Mark Cooper, formerly of Bossier City, was appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal as Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in January of this year after spending almost 20 years in California.

Emergency Public Information:
During an emergency, crucial state public information may be released through GOHSEP with the help of other state agencies that may be involved in the response actions. Depending on the scope of the emergency or the type of situation, these messages may be initiated by either the Parish or State emergency management organizations. During any type of major evacuation in the state, the Louisiana Emergency Alert System will broadcast evacuation information on all participating radio/tv stations for the affected areas.

— In a televised speech from the White House's Diplomatic Room, President Obama urged residents to heed warnings from local officials.

"We're dealing with a big storm and there could be significant flooding and other damage across a large area," he said. "Now is not the time to tempt fate. Now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. You need to take this seriously."

— Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said that 41 parishes have declared states of emergency and 7 parishes have issued mandatory evacuation orders.

If its up to the state to evacuate any given area from potential disasters, why then did Bush get blamed for not evacuating New Orleans ahead of Katrina?

Updated at 9:30 a.m. ET: New Orleans' levees and pumps were holding up to the rain and storm surge caused by Hurricane Isaac, but areas outside the defense network saw flooding, including an 18-mile stretch to the south where up to 12 feet of water invaded streets and homes.

Officials in Plaquemines Parish, where the surge overtopped an 8-foot levee, said Coast Guard personnel and others were in the process of rescuing two men stranded on top of one levee and others trapped in houses.

"We've got flooding, inundated four-to-nine feet on that side" of the levee, parish emergency management official Guy Laigast told the Weather Channel. "We've got homes that have been inundated. We have folks who are trapped in their residents."

"It's piling that water up on the east side of the Mississippi River," he added. "All that water is ponding up in that area and that's what's causing the overtopping."

The area had been under a mandatory evacuation order but only half of the 2,000 residents reportedly had left by Monday.

If its up to the state to evacuate any given area from potential disasters, why then did Bush get blamed for not evacuating New Orleans ahead of Katrina?

Katrina was a failure on both state and national levels. The criticism against Bush was the slow response during and the immediate afterwards of the disaster.

Bush was at fault when he delayed any emergency relief and postevent evacuation for those stuck in the effected areas.

President Burgess from Tangi says 50,000 to 60,000 people will need to evacuate along the Tangipahoa River as a dam is about to break near Percy Quinn State Park.

He estimates that people have about 90 minutes to get out before the water would get too high to do so safely.