Gulf residents prepare for arrival of Isaac

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - The top winds of Tropical Storm Isaac are clocked at 65 miles an hour, as the storm targets a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast.

It's expected to make landfall as soon as tomorrow, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane. And that's prompted evacuations along the coast. It also has people stocking up on supplies.

One man in New Orleans who endured Katrina seven years ago says he thinks the city's levee system is in better shape to handle a storm now. Still, carpenter John Corli says he fueled up his truck and his generator.

On the Alabama coast, 72-year-old Billy Cannon was getting ready to evacuate, with several cars packed with family members and four Chihuahuas from a home on a peninsula in Gulf Shores.

He says he thinks the order to evacuate was premature, but that he understands it's a safety precaution.

The storm, which is now blamed for 19 deaths in Haiti, blew past the Florida Keys with little damage. It's promising a drenching but little more than that for Tampa, where the start of official business at the Republican National Convention has been pushed back until tomorrow.

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