Tropical storm Isaac pummeled the Republican National Convention with high winds and heavy rain as the GOP kicks off the biggest event of the campaign. INSIDE EDITION reports from Tampa.
It's coming. Isaac is taking direct aim at the Gulf Coast after wreaking havoc at the Republican convention in Tampa.
The outer bands of Isaac are cutting across southern Florida, bringing tropical force winds, heavy rain, storm surge and some local flooding. For the most part, Florida has dodged a bullet. As Isaac heads out to the Gulf of Mexico, the question is: where does it land from here?
New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are next in Isaac's path. It's been almost seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina created the catastrophe that shocked the nation.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Convention was gaveled into session, then quickly adjourned until Tuesday in anticipation of high winds and heavy rain from Isaac.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn told INSIDE EDITION he's breathing a sigh of relief that Isaac spared his city.
Mayor Buckhorn said, "It's going to have minimal effect, other than compressing the actually proceedings of the convention, but we dodged a bullet.
Security is extremely tight around the Tampa convention center. Police and heavily-armed National Guard surround steel barriers, and every vehicle is examined by bomb-sniffing dogs.
Squadrons of cops are patrolling on horseback, as well as on boats, cruising the waterways near the convention center.
With high winds moving into Tampa, they brought in barrels to hold down the scaffolding, but they had to remove the canopy that would have sheltered the delegates as they waited in line. With no umbrellas, it would have made for a wet and miserable experience.
Inside, the convention center is more like a ghost town, with more of bomb-sniffing dogs and their handlers hard at work.
So how bad could the weather have been? Donald Trump, who is scheduled to speak at the convention said at a recent appearance, "If I were wearing a rug, as they've said I do, I'd be standing up here with nothing on my head, believe me. Because it was windy, and miserable and raining, and I was soaking wet."
