Flooding in parts of southeast Louisiana and southern MS shut down many roads yesterday, prompting numerous rescues and cutting off at least one town as an area of low pressure slowly moved west along the Gulf Coast.
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Gov. John Bell Edwards said Saturday that at least 2 people are dead and more than 1,000 people have been rescued from flood-ravaged regions throughout the state.
In Zachary, a school bus packed with children slid off a road, leaving its front end covered with water, WAFB reported.
Jones said 6 to 10 inches of rain fell over the last 24 hours and an additional 4 to 6 inches was possible Saturday afternoon.
In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge reported as much as 11.34 inches of rain fell compared with 2.34 inches at New Orleans’ global airport in Kenner.
The Tickfaw River, just south of the MS state line in Liverpool, Louisiana, was already at the highest level ever recorded. The Tangipahoa, Biloxi and Pearl rivers all were flooding, he said.
If rainfall forecasts from computer models – some of which suggest up to 12 to 24 more inches of rain could fall before the weekend is over – hold, then that flooding will just be the beginning of a larger disaster.
In southwest Mississippi, Leroy Hansford, his wife and stepson were among those rescued near Gloster.
Numerous rivers in southeast Louisiana and southern MS have risen sharply above their banks, and with more rains yet to come, a long duration flood event may be the result.
“We were in the trailer just watching TV and then the water just started coming up”, Vernon Drummond, roommate of the victim, told the station.
Meanwhile, in MS, more than 50 people were taking refuge in a shelter after their homes in Crosby were deluged after 10 inches of rain fell.
Two counties, Pike and Amite, have been endured flash and river flooding after being hit with more than 10 inches of rain since midnight, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said.
Forecasters in Alabama say a flash flood watch is in effect Friday along the Alabama Gulf coast. “It came up to my waist”.
Louisiana authorities have rescued 72 people and seven pets out of neighborhoods after flooding in southeast Tangipahoa Parish.
He said roads that had never flooded were under water, and that the backlog of people waiting to be rescued was as long as 150, even after more than a thousand rescue operations had been carried out so far.
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The continued downpours will slow cleanup efforts and the recession of water in areas already affected by flooding.
