Even though the city of Muncie prepared for Tropical Storm Isaac to hit hard, the area was not affected as much as expected.
The Muncie area had around 3/4ths of an inch of rain over the Labor Day weekend. The National Weather Service predicted the area to get around six inches.
Brad Herold, hydro-meteorological technician at the National Weather Service, said the storm was expected to make landfall and head up the Mississippi River to the Indiana area. Instead, it moved around the Gulf Coast and went back out to sea slightly. When it did make landfall, it went further to the west than predicted, causing it to enter Indiana slower than expected.
"Being removed from the Gulf for that long, it's been weakening, raining itself out," Herold said. "So, much heavier rains occurred in Illinois and other locations south and southwest from there."
Although the amount of rain was less than officials were expecting, it was still 0.43 inches more than normal.
Before the weekend, Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler had issued a weather alert for the city and met with several city departments to finalize a storm emergency plan.
The departments had cleaned drains, grates and streets throughout neighborhoods, according to a press release issued by the mayor's office.
According to the National Weather Service, 2.5 inches of rain had fallen by Saturday afternoon on southern parts of northwestern Indiana.
While the damage was not detrimental in Indiana, the storm had a much larger effect in the southern states.
Days after Isaac had passed through Louisiana, more than 100,000 people across the state didn't have any power and much of New Orleans was covered with floodwater.
The Associated Press reported five people in Louisiana and two in Mississippi had been killed in the storm.
Thousands are also without power in Mississippi and Arkansas, while thousands of evacuees remained at shelters or bunked with friends or relatives, the Associated Press reported.
Despite the storm, Gulf Coast refineries are ramping back up. This, in combination with the end of the summer driving season and refiners switching to cheap winter blends of gasoline, should cause gasoline prices to drift lower in the coming weeks, analysts said.
Last week, in the middle of Isaac's path through the Gulf Coast, the national average price of gasoline rose 11 cents. The average price barely declined on Monday by 0.2 cents after leveling off on Friday to just under $3.83 per gallon, the Associated Press reported.
Farmers in the Midwest welcomed the rain after the worst U.S. drought in decades.
Although the rain came too late to make a difference in their year, it did give them a break from irrigating and hauling water for livestock, the Associated Press reported.
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