HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- New Orleans, the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, lifted on Thursday a dusk-to-dawn curfew, which was enacted in Hurricane Isaac's wake.
According to the reports on the website of NOLA.COM, this was announced by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration on Thursday afternoon.
The police department in the city will maintain a heavy presence throughout the clean-up process, which starts on Thursday.
The police have arrested three people and issued summonses to three more for violating the ban during the storm.
In New Orleans, 83 percent of the city's metro area is still without power, as well as 43 percent of the state as a whole, because of Isaac, which has weakened to a tropical storm on Wednesday afternoon with storm surge and inland flooding still threatening.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Isaac still has the oil production in the area at a standstill on Thursday. Nearly 95 percent of daily oil production in the Gulf is shuttered while some 73 percent of current daily natural gas production in the area also remained shut in. Personnel have been evacuated from 85 percent of the manned production platforms in the Gulf and 66 percent of the rigs.
Isaac has left over half a million homes and businesses in southeastern Louisiana without power on Wednesday, and the power outage is likely to remain so throughout the duration of the storm, which continues to slowly move away from the southeastern part of the state.
It was reported that though downgraded from a hurricane status on Wednesday afternoon, Isaac, with its center being located about 16 kilometers south of Baton Rouge and about 176 kilometers west- northwest of New Orleans, continues to drop heavy rains along its path and has sustained winds of 96 kilometers per hour.
Tropical Storm Isaac will be further downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday.
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