Hundreds of thousands of South Louisianans began bracing for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac on Monday, Aug. 28, and preparing for damaging winds, rains and potential tornadic activity and flash flooding.

In anticipation of Isaac, local schools, government offices and businesses shut down Tuesday and Wednesday. Events and meetings were cancelled, postponed. Department of Public works employees, as well as firefighters and police and many volunteers sprang into action.

Even Zachary High Bronco baseball players volunteered to fill sandbags on Monday and Tuesday. Residents in Zachary were limited to 15 sandbags per household - five per door of residence.

Hurricane Isaac would down in the record books as one of the slowest-moving storms in recent history - if not ever. Isaac crept its way into South Louisiana and hovered for days dumping massive amounts of rain on New Orleans, Braithwaite in Plaquemines Parish and later Amite, LaPlace, Kentwood and Slidell.

At one point, Isaac moved "no faster than a person walking at a brisk pace," a meteorologist said on one of the many news channels covering the storm.

Social media outlets provided a platform for those anxiously riding out the storm - it was a way to stay in touch with loved ones and friends - provided you had electricity - and was often the source of comic relief during a time of worry.

Curfews were put into place for many communities from dusk to dawn, and citizens were urged to stay indoors and off the roads for their own safety.

In Zachary, city officials issued a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. that ended Thursday, Aug. 30, at 6 a.m. Zachary Police Chief David McDavid said the curfew was necessary to allow public safety officials a "chance to better do their jobs during the storm."

Thursday brought with it the sun, which peeked out at times in Zachary, and residents took to the streets to survey damage and start their clean-up efforts.

Images and reports of those less fortunate in Braithwaite (Plaquemines Parish) began airing on news channels. Media montages showed people being rescued from their rooftops and evacuated from their homes.

On Friday, Aug. 31, reports came of a couple who was found drowned in their home in Braithwaite. Other deaths were also reported, though not as many as in previous storms but tragic still.

Hurricane Isaac hit Louisiana on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the gods of fate, it seemed, were playing a cruel, cruel joke.

This time New Orleans was spared a direct hit but not so for the areas surrounding the Big Easy and the people of Amite, Braithwaite, LaPlace, Kentwood and Slidell, many of whom were evacuated.

As of Sunday, Sept. 1, and by Labor Day, many Louisianans had not been allowed back into their homes.

A St. Francisville man reported that his sister in LaPlace received a foot of water in her home, and by Monday, she still had not surveyed the damage - authorities deemed it too risky, if not impassable. Her neighbors said the garage door was open at one point, but it was not clear if looters were to blame or concerned neighbors checking on her belongings.

While residents in Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary and those in East and West Feliciana were spared more during Isaac than during Gustav, we were and are still very aware of the lasting impression the hurricane has left upon us.