This is a historic flooding event. She felt fortunate the flooding stopped a block short of her home, but she owns a couple of water-damaged rental properties that aren’t covered by flood insurance.
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Parts of southern Louisiana and MS were hammered by up to 25 inches of rain Friday and Saturday.
More than 20,000 people have been rescued in Louisiana, including 15,000 in Livingston Parish since Friday. Some cities, like Baton Rouge, started door-to-door checks on residents.
Officials also updated the death toll to eight, but The Advocate in Baton Rouge is reporting a ninth fatality citing East Baton Rouge County Coroner William “Beau” Clark.
Governor Edwards submitted additional information for these eight additional parishes Monday, to be added to the Major Disaster Declaration from the federal government and said that more parishes will be added to the declaration on a rolling basis.
The region was also just recovering from heavy flooding back in March, and Miller says some people who just finished rebuilding their homes took on more water during this flood.
“You’ve got all of these people who hunt and fish who have more experience than the average first responder”, he said.
“We’re seeing unprecedented flood levels as the waters move south”, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at a news conference.
Floodwaters have been receding today in most of the effected areas, however water levels are rising in the southern parts of the state as the excess water washes downriver and out to sea. The storms threatening Texas are part of the same system that deluged Louisiana, although it is now less potent, said NWS meteorologist Gavin Phillips.
He said the house took on 5 inches of “muddy nasty bayou water”.
In Livingston Parish, home to 138,000 people, officials estimate that 75% of homes have been completely destroyed.
Rescue crews were searching flooded homes and automobiles for more victims, with officials uncertain how many people remain missing. In Ascension Parish, some small towns were already inundated.
The governor requested the USA government to declare disaster in a total of 21 parishes. Dee Vazquez, from left, helps Georgette Centelo and her grandfather Lawrence Roberts after they tried to recover their belongings from a family mobile home in Central, north of Baton Rouge, La., Mond.
Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as people filled sandbags there to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south.
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“We are going to have to search and mark each of those automobiles”, the governor said.
