Among them is Jared Serigne St. Bernard Parish, who told The Associated Press he helped organize volunteer efforts involving roughly 70 experienced boaters who rescued hundreds from flooded communities such as Monticello, St. Amant and Port Vincent.
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“You’ve got all of these people who hunt and fish who have more experience than the average first-responder”, said Serigne, a TV producer of an outdoors show and marketing director for marine equipment business. And finding points from which to safely launch boats has been hard.
Unfortunately only a small number of those affected have flood insurance.
On Monday morning they were at one of a chain of area grocery stores run by family friends – helping clean up and re-stock shelves while managers called suppliers and warehouses, hoping trucks could get to them to replenish meat, poultry and milk while flood-weary residents lined up outside.
In flood-ravaged Livingston Parish, scores of people woke up on Monday in packed emergency shelters, sprawled out wherever they could find room.
The Louisiana State Police started allowing people to reclaim cars left behind on a portion of Interstate 12 that had to be shut down because of the flooding.
At Plaquemines Parish, officials said two airboat rescue teams had returned after assisting in East Baton Rouge, where they rescued more than 200 people and pets from various parts of the parish over a 24-hour period. The other hardest hit parishes include East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, Livingston, and Tangipahoa. Many are waiting for the flood waters to drain away so they can determine what can be salvaged from their sodden homes and businesses.
Ascension officials say the rivers are reaching high levels Monday, and not going down anytime soon.
National Guard soldiers in high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters helped rescue people, as did Good Samaritans.
In United States, devastating floods have killed at least six people and pushed thousands people from their homes at southern Louisiana.
The body recovered in front of the Greenwell Springs Regional Branch Library matches the description of multiple missing people related to the flooding that began Friday, said East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks.
State officials say 20,000 people have been rescued from their homes and more than 10,000 people are in shelters after a slow-moving storm system dumped almost 2 feet of rain in some areas.
The sun is shining in Lafayette, Louisiana, but flood waters remain high across the heart of Acadiana. Any additional rain in the next couple of days could trigger more flash flooding.
“Because these are record floods, we don’t know how wide the water is going to get in those areas”, he said.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says damage reports are coming in on the flooding in southern Mississippi. The federal assistance will likely cover the costs of temporary housing and home repairs, as well as low-priced loans to help pay for uninsured property losses, the Advocate reports.
Flynn said there are 67 people in the shelter opened in Natchez on Saturday.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday closed a section of the Intracoastal Waterway near Port Allen, Louisiana, due to flooding, but the MS remained open to commercial navigation with no restrictions, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said. Flood stage is 20 feet.
The Amite River, the source of flooding for many areas, had risen 14 feet above flood level in one reading, besting a previous record flood in April 1983, the NWS said. Flood stage is 29 feet.
Localized flooding in Texas was a concern on Monday, the National Weather Service said, especially from Houston to the Hill Country region in the central part of the state. Cell phone service in Baton Rouge has also been restored.
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LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette asked the public for help on Twitter on Sunday and said Hawthorne couldn’t be reached on his cellphone.
