Despite widespread power outages, flooding and closures, earlyreports Wednesday showed that Mississippi and Alabama credit unionswere apparently spared major damage from Hurricane Isaac.

The storm's 80 mph winds and unrelenting rain were pounding NewOrleans and surrounding areas Wednesday morning, the seventhanniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a much stronger storm.

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Charles Elliott, president/CEO of the Mississippi Credit UnionLeague, said he has been monitoring 10 major credit unions withextensive branch operations directly in the storm zone.

“I've been in touch with many of our CEOs at their homes andthough the roads are washed out on Highway 90 along the coast,we're not seeing the surges anywhere near as bad as we did forKatrina,” Elliott said.

In Mobile, Gulf Shores and adjacent areas, credit unionsremained closed Wednesday with a few planning to reopen Thursdaybut there no damage reports from the League of Southeastern CreditUnions, which posted on its website a list of the credit unions andtheir storm status.

“I think we dodged a bullet in Alabama and I'm hopeful ourfriends to the west will come out OK,” said Stephen Swofford,president/CEO of the $516 million Alabama CU of Tuscaloosa.

As part of its disaster alert program, the NCUA notified creditunion members needing assistance to call the agency's HurricaneIsaac toll-free hotline at (888) 584-6847.