Buildings are boarded up in New Orleans to protect against the onslaught of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Bourbon Street is the centre of the city's party scene. But business has slumped with news of the incoming weather.

Tropical Storm Isaac is closing in, threatening to make landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane overnight on Tuesday (August 28).

It will arrive on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which decimated New Orleans and the coastline in 2005.

SOUNDBITE: CAREY FOLEY, TOURIST FROM NEW JERSEY, WITH FRIEND SARAK PATANKER, ALSO OF NEW JERSEY, SAYING (English):

"Our flights were cancelled so we are going to be here for the hurricane so we are battening down the hatches. But thinking of Katrina, when we came down we were aware that it was the seven year anniversary so that is definitely on our minds and we are just hoping that the city doesn't get hit again so brutally. It doesn't deserve it."

Mississippi was quietly awaiting the high winds and rain, with beachgoers far from deterred by the severe weather warning.

SOUNDBITE: DAYMOND JOHNSON, SAYING (English):

"Going about it normally. I've been through one before so I know how to prep for it a little bit."

A state of emergency has been declared in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Evacuation orders have also gone into effect in a number of areas.

Many are hoping to escape a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, which killed scores of people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.