NEW ORLEANS — Several Gulf Coast ports remained closed Thursday after Tropical Storm Isidore sloshed ashore at New Orleans shortly after midnight.

The ports of New Orleans; Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss., and Alabama State Docks in Mobile are not loading or unloading any cargo from vessels.

A harbor policeman at New Orleans said some truck traffic was filtering in and out of the port, but no shipside cargo was moving.

Coastal roads and highways along the Mississippi Gulf Coast were closed due to debris clogging the thoroughfares. Flooding closed Interstate 10 in and out of New Orleans.

At Mobile, port operations were canceled due to wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and a storm surge that flooded low-lying streets.

"The high winds are keeping the water pushed up from the south and we can't do anything," a port engineer said. Isidore soaked New Orleans with more than 14 inches of rain in the past 48 hours, but skies were clearing by noon as the loosely organized storm worked its way inland.

Coastal schools and businesses from New Orleans to Mobile remain closed today, with scattered power outages and a handful of reports of tornadoes in rural areas.

Alabama State Docks closed only its McDuffie Bulk Terminal on Wednesday, but by Thursday morning the entire port was shuttered.

All ports are expected to re-open for business tomorrow.

By Janet Plume