But the rescue isn’t over, and the man goes under the water to find the woman’s dog.
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More than 40 shelters have opened up for families displaced by the flooding.
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson said more than 200 roads are closed, including 30 state roads.
They gathered up their dogs and a few bags of belongings and fled out the back door, eventually wading through waist-deep water to a passing National Guard truck.
“People that should have evacuated didn’t, so they are having to be evacuated”, Gov. Edwards explained.
Meanwhile, the persistent rainfall that led to the flood has not shown signs of completely stopping.
The low pressure system that wreaked such havoc moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that there’s still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico.
For the many people forced out of their homes, there is the added complication of limited mobile phone service.
Due to power outages and significant flooding caused by severe weather in parts of Louisiana, some customers may experience issues with their wireless and wireline service. Among them was a man in the Louisiana town of Zachary, near the capital Baton Rouge, who drowned trying to escape flood waters, local television reported.
Many roads remained cut or totally flooded Sunday in southern Louisiana and the state police tweeted pictures of helicopters loaded with water bottles to be distributed to people cut off from everything. Rivers such as the Comite near East Baton Rouge and the Tickfaw near Livingston were expected to keep rising until Monday.
Woods says that by midmorning Sunday, about 10 people had called and asked for a ride out because of high water in the streets. “Don’t get out and sightsee”, Edwards said.
“Even when the weather is better, it’s not safe”.
In southwest MS, rescues occurred in Amite and Wilkinson counties.In Crosby, Miss., more than 50 people flooded out of a neighborhood will be housed at a shelter in Natchez until at least Monday.
The governor has deployed the Louisiana National Guard, which said Sunday it has mobilized about 1,700 soldiers to assist in search and rescue.
The thousands of rescues include three men in a boat who came up on a woman’s almost submerged vehicle and struggled to pull her out as the auto filled with water.
“I can’t get the dog”, he gasped.
Reached by telephone Sunday, she said she was on her way to a bridal shower she was supposed to be hosting on Saturday when flooding closed off the highway.
Communities around Baton Rouge have seen at least 24 inches of rain since Wednesday, and more rain is expected Sunday. “We’ve been rescuing subdivisions”, he said.
Louisiana’s governor has requested federal assistance after widespread, “unprecedented’ flooding led to 7,000 rescues, killed three people, and left one person missing”. Two nursing homes were being evacuated.
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The woman, her husband and the woman’s mother-in-law were driving on a state highway Friday when their auto was swept off the road.
