Hurricane Isaac and its aftermath

Tony Rodriguez, right, carries his baby daughter Nicole as they and his wife Jodi Clelland leave their flooded home in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac in Slidell, La., Friday, Aug. 31, 2012.

Isaac sloshed northwards into the nation's midsection Friday after dumping as much as 18 inches of rain in some areas, flooding stretches of the Gulf Coast and knocking out power to more than a million customers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Entire neighborhoods were water-logged and left without lights, air conditioning or clean water.

At least five deaths in La. and Miss., have been blamed on the storm.

After being downgraded to a tropical depression, the storm's center was on track to cross Arkansas on Friday and southern Missouri on Friday night, spreading more rain as it goes.

Credit: AP Photo/David J. Phillip