Louisiana will mark the 11th anniversary this month of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people when floods overwhelmed levees and broke through flood walls protecting New Orleans on August 29, 2005.
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US President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration after speaking with Edwards, the White House said in a statement.
Parishes with heavy damage imposed a curfew to keep streets clear at night, and officials urged residents to avoid neighborhoods still filled to hip level with muddy water, the Post reports.
“This event is ongoing, it is not over”, he said.
“This is of a magnitude of something I have never ever experienced, seen or even heard about”, said Baton Rouge resident Dekisha Anderson of the flooding across the Greater Baton Rouge area.
For the foreseeable future, home for Carolyn Smith, her husband, two grown sons and a family friend will be a 30-foot travel trailer supplied by a relative.
Flooding began over the weekend, and Edwards said emergency officials remain in search-and-rescue mode.
Louisiana’s economic development office is encouraging business owners to register for federal disaster aid and to look at other available support services at www.OpportunityLouisiana.com.
Edwards said there were still some 34,000 households and businesses without electricity in torrid summer heat and humidity.
Residents will continue going back to their homes Wednesday, assessing damage and getting to work on repairs, in areas where the waters have receded enough.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard says the state Fire Marshal’s Office took a team into the South Point subdivision, where water had receded, to check homes, and a man’s body was discovered in a wooded area where water had risen to about 5 feet at one time.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said in hard-hit Baton Rouge only 12 percent of residences are covered by flood insurance, and 14 percent in Lafayette – what he called “shocking”.
The agency forecast the river would not fall below flood level until Wednesday morning.
Inside, a young boy rode his bicycle around the now-empty church.
About 60,000 people have signed up so far for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while 20 parishes were included in the federal disaster declaration, according to the AP.
The American Red Cross called the flooding the worst since Superstorm Sandy hit coastal areas in NY and New Jersey in 2012.
Many parishes in Louisiana were collecting donations for flood victims, including food, water, blankets, school uniforms, bedding and hygiene products.
Louisiana was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and authorities learned from that disaster that many people are reluctant to leave their homes without their pets, even when conditions are life-threatening.
Several shelters in the Baton Rouge area were accepting evacuees with four legs.
It’s 1,300 miles between Grand Junction and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“In situations like this we know that we’re bringing things that people need and those are very important but we are bringing hope”, said Archer.
Ordinary citizens in small boats – who in the last few days have earned the title, “cajun navy” – appeared to outnumber formal rescue crews.
Across the flood-stricken area, many residents said they weren’t required to have flood insurance and didn’t have it, since nothing remotely like this had ever happened before.
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The storms threatening Texas are part of the same system that deluged Louisiana, although it is now less potent, said NWS meteorologist Gavin Phillips.
