With Tropical Storm Isaac approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Isaac reached the Florida Keys and is headed west toward the Louisiana coast and New Orleans. The center has issued a hurricane warning.

The strong winds and heavy downpour accompanying Issac only measure as a tropical storm, traveling at a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour. But by the time it makes landfall on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday, it's expected to develop into a category two hurricane with wind speeds of up to 169 kilometers per hour.

Residents along the Gulf of Mexico fear a second Hurricane Katrina of seven years ago, which claimed over 18-hundred lives and caused several dozen billion dollars in property damage.