Meanwhile, Kailath says, forecasters predict more rain for some areas of Louisiana over the rest of the week. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to open back up or not”.
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David Key looks at the back yard of his flooded home in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of “muddy, nasty bayou water”. There were fish and thousands of spiders, and mold had started to grow.
Key and his wife spent most of the weekend putting as much of the contents of their house into the second floor and setting furniture up on concrete blocks.
Eight additional parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration.
More roads are closed in Acadia, Evangeline, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes.
The floodwaters have claimed at least five lives – one in Tangipahoa Parish, two in East Baton Rouge Parish and two in St. Helena Parish. Once their parish is included in the declaration, they can register online at disasterassistance.gov. More than 36,000 people from Louisiana have registered so far with FEMA, according to the governor’s office. Still waiting are Allen, Avoylles, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Washington, West Feliciana and Cameron parishes.
Parts of Airline Highway were underwater as a result of rain and heavy flooding throughout the southeast Louisiana. Over the weekend, he shared the sad news that he’d lost his home in Baton Rouge, but he still managed to offer help to those in need. The parish has a population of about 138,000 people.
Since the flooding began Friday, more than 20,000 have had to be rescued in some of the worst flooding the state has ever seen.
“Some people are evacuating, some people don’t want to”, said Sorrento Mayor Mike Lambert.
Seven deaths have been attributed to the flooding in south Louisiana.
East Baton Rouge Parish suffered another fatality Friday when a 68-year-old man drowned after slipping and falling in floodwaters. It’s a tractor trailer equipped with metal cages, generator, battery power and a cleaning station.
Officials from Livingston Parish were in Baton Rouge on Tuesday to talk to federal officials about getting some sort of temporary housing for their first responders – a sign of the housing crunch likely to come with so many people out of their homes for weeks and perhaps months.
Craig Fugate will meet with Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
The city is also looking after its own, as The Advocate reports that Celtic Studios, the largest film and television production studio in the state, has become a haven for displaced residents. Nearby Livingston Parish (where an estimated 75% of homes could be “a total loss”) saw 21 inches of rain in one day, which misses the 1962 record by one inch.
Rivers and creeks are still dangerously bloated south of Baton Rouge. People have filled sandbags to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as high water flows toward the Gulf of Mexico. In Ascension Parish, officials said some small towns have already been inundated.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Authorities went door to door and vehicle to auto to check for bodies Tuesday, and homeowners began the heartbreaking task of gathering up soaked family photos and mucking out houses dank with bayou mud, as the floodwaters started to recede across parts of southern Louisiana. The disaster has prompted thousands of rescues and many found refuge in hastily prepared shelters.
