GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) -
For one Upstate couple, Isaac surprisingly made a turn from Tampa to the Gulf Coast.
On Wednesday night the Williams family was in Mississippi near Bay St. Louis while another Upstate man was toughing the storm out in Baton Rouge, LA.
Brian Williams and his wife are from Woodruff and headed to Mississippi on business.
Chris Bonaparte from Greenville is doing contract work in Baton Rouge. He's spent time volunteering by filling sand bags in preparation for the storm.
All of them said they saw high wind and heavy rain causing floods, down trees and power outages.
SLIDESHOW: Locals respond to Gulf Coast during storm
They said food on store shelves is running thin and that both areas are under a curfew.
"I'd say around 4:30 a.m. was the worst when we lost our power. It was 70 to 80 mph right here," said Williams over the phone.
"We still have a 5:00 curfew right here in this area. So they are really looking for it to get a little worse by tomorrow (Thursday) evening," said Chris Bonaparte over the phone.
Williams said in Bay St. Louis there were 500,000 power outages and there will probably be more as the ground continues to be saturated with rain.
The Williams family said they will head back to South Carolina as soon as the storm passes, and Bonaparte said he is going to continue to work in Baton Rouge throughout the hurricane season.
Copyright 2012 FOX Carolina (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved
Volunteers and residents load sand bags in downtown Baton Rouge. (Aug. 29, 2012/Courtesy Chris Bonaparte)
