NEW ORLEANS (MCT) — After three days of mayhem, a weakened Isaac edged northward out of Louisiana on Thursday, leaving one-third of the state without power, more than 60,000 residents evacuated from their homes and worried officials preparing to release water from a storm-stressed dam along the Mississippi border. At least one death was reported.

Hundreds of homes remained underwater, and nearly 5,900 weary residents in Louisiana and more than 1,800 in Mississippi scrambled to makeshift shelters. At least 500 people who had gambled on riding out the storm were rescued by helicopter or boat, as Isaac was downgraded late Thursday to a tropical depression — a far cry from its 80-mph winds at landfall.