Kevin Richmond, left, and Barbara Manuel and her two children Elliott, 8, center, and Emily, 5, right, are rescued by members of the Louisiana Army National Guard from rising floodwater.
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Gov. John Bel Edwards said 40,000 businesses and homes are without power, and rescue workers are still “bringing people out of homes to safety”, particularly in the hardest-hit areas around Baton Rouge.
The US president’s orders make federal aid available in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St Helena and Tangipahoa.
ABC News reports that since flooding began last week-over 30 inches of rain fell, and waters continue to rise-20,000 people have been rescued from their homes and at least 6 have died; 40,000 businesses and homes are without power, and 12,000 people are now living in shelters (some of which then also had to be evacuated due to rising waters). Any additional rain in the next couple of days could trigger more flash flooding.
More than 10,000 people were in shelters Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. The shelters themselves were not immune to flooding, however, and some had to be evacuated due to rising waters, authorities said.
“I fully expect that more parishes will be added to the declaration on a rolling basis”, Edwards said in a statement in which he called the flooding “unprecedented” for his state.
“We woke up and the water kept on coming”, Hansford said. As many as 20,000 people were rescued from their homes over the weekend, and approximately 10,000 people stayed in shelters overnight Sunday, according to The Times-Picayune.
In one dramatic rescue in Baton Rouge captured on video, rescuers on a boat pulled a woman from a auto that had just slipped under water.
“Oh, my God, I’m drowning, I’m drowning”, the woman said in a faint voice, as captured in a video.
On Saturday, the body of a woman was recovered from the Tickfaw River, in St. Helena Parish northeast of Baton Rouge, after a vehicle in which she was riding was swept away. “We’re talking about places that have literally never flooded before”, said Anthony “Ace” Cox, who started a Facebook group to help collect information about where people were stranded.
One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety.
The National Weather Service says the rivers in the Baton Rouge area have started to fall, but still remain above flood stage after setting record levels over the weekend.
She couldn’t say how many homes and businesses in Ascension were affected by the flooding, but said a lot of them were in some way. After several seconds, Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces – with the small dog.
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.
And with heavy rain projected in parts of MS as the storm heads north, Gov. Phil Bryant has declared a state of emergency in at least four counties. But a police officer at one Baton Rouge area roadblock warned Jack Miller that the 60-year-old was risking arrest if he tried to drive a boat on a trailer down a stretch of the highway down to just two lanes.
Debbie is in Baton Rouge now. A police officer carried her 6-year-old daughter, Khoie, on his back while she and her husband waded behind them for what “felt like forever”.
Some rivers in Louisiana broke their previous crest records by 3- to 4 feet, Destri said.
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“My husband and I just said, you know, we can sit here and cry or we can help cleanup”, Noel said in a telephone interview, her voice breaking.
