Utility companies say more than 500,000 have lost power as Hurricane Isaac moves through southeast Louisiana, bringing wind, rain and flooding.

Most of the outages Wednesday are in areas around New Orleans as Isaac lashes the area with 80 mph winds.

The Category 1 hurricane has pushed water over a rural levee to flood some homes, knocked out power and immersed beach-front roads in Louisiana and Mississippi as it makes a drenching slog inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

Wind gusts of more than 60 mph and sheets of rain pelted New Orleans, where people braced themselves for the storm behind levees that were strengthened after the much stronger Hurricane Katrina hit seven years ago to the day.