Isaac now a Category 1 hurricane

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaac has been upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, and prompted evacuations along a wide area of the Gulf Coast.

The hurricane has New Orleans in its crosshairs, bearing down just ahead of the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

"I gassed up — truck and generator", John Corll, 59, a carpenter, said as he left a New Orleans coffee shop Monday morning. He went through Katrina in 2005 and was expecting a weaker storm this time, adding that he thinks the levee system is in better shape to handle a storm surge than when Katrina hit.

"I think the state and local governments are much better prepared for the storm surge and emergencies," Corll said.

Isaac blew past the Florida Keys and was rolling northwestward over the open Gulf of Mexico on Monday. The National Hurricane Center predicted it could hit sometime today somewhere along a roughly 300-mile stretch from the bayous southwest of New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle.