GULFPORT, Miss. (MCT) — The morning began on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday with Hurricane Isaac refusing to relinquish its grip, bringing havoc to a 200-mile wide stretch of coastline on the ominous seventh anniversary of another deadly storm.

Isaac first came ashore Tuesday night east of New Orleans as a Category One storm. But that classification doesn’t quite do the hurricane justice — its width and slow movement meant prolonged strong winds and rain and a storm surge that appeared to have topped at least one levee on the western shore of the Mississippi River.