The death toll from Hurricane Isaac’s battering of the Gulf Coast last week stands at six in Louisiana and two in neighboring Mississippi, with both states enduring massive flooding. Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, President Obama toured damaged areas on Monday.

President Obama: “As you can see, folks are on the ground already clearing out the debris and making sure that they’re able to recover as rapidly as possible. I want to particularly thank FEMA and the state and local authorities, because sometimes in the past we haven’t seen the kind of coordination that is necessary in response to these kinds of disasters. This time we’ve seen it.”