The Republican convention to crown Mitt Romney the presidential nominee opened yesterday not with a bang but with a whimper,as the symbolic session was adjourned almost immediately for a day’s storm delay.

Reince Preibus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, opened the session at 8 p.m., gavelling the convention to order in front of a half-empty hall in Tampa, Florida.

Yesterday was supposed to be the raucous kick-off to four days of carefully choreographed political theatre. Instead, after party officials scrapped the first day of events due to the threat posed by tropical storm Isaac, a symbolic minutes-long session was held before proceedings were adjourned until the following day.

The original script had Mr Romney to be formally nominated to take on President Barack Obama in the November 6 election by a delegate roll call yesterday morning, launching a succession of well-honed speeches by leading party figures. That procedure will now take place today.

Mr Preibus activated two clocks designed to highlight “the fiscal recklessness” of the Obama administration. One showed America’s $15.9 trillion (€12.7 trillion) national debt. The other reactivated the clock from zero to show how much debt accumulates during the four days of the convention.

“The first clock will bring home the full magnitude of the problem, while this second clock will impress upon the nation just how much our government overspends in the span of only four days,” Mr Preibus said in a statement.

“Both clocks highlight the magnitude of our debt problem.”

Republican Party officials stressed that the prime night-time speaking slots today and tomorrow, culminating in Mr Romney’s acceptance speech on Thursday after an introduction by rising Hispanic star Marco Rubio, remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, New Orleans braced for another major tropical storm yesterday, seven years after hurricane Katrina swamped the fabled US city of jazz, leaving behind a sprawl of destruction and death.

A hurricane warning was issued for New Orleans and nearby areas as the storm churned toward the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, with sustained winds of 65 miles per hour and likely to hit hurricane force today.

Alabama governor Robert Bentley ordered mandatory evacuations in the Gulf Coast counties of Mobile and Baldwin, and in Louisiana, governor Bobby Jindal recommended voluntary evacuations within the hurricane watch area.

Isaac was swirling in the Gulf of Mexico about 310 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River yesterday, and expected to gather punch in the following 48 hours, the National Hurricane Centre said. It was heading northwest at 14 miles per hour.

“Isaac was expected to become a hurricane before reaching the northern Gulf coast,” the agency added.