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.
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Despite the levee structure being overcome with floodwaters, the Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security said in a Facebook post that the levee had not suffered any breaks, breaches or even structural damage.
The confirmed statewide death toll rose to 11, a levee was overtopped in one parish and more than three-quarters of the homes were lost in another parish, authorities said Tuesday. Her mother and husband were rescued.
“This is a historic flooding event”, Edwards said.
There were scattered reports of looting, and Gov. John Bel Edwards said parishes with widespread damage would be placed under curfew beginning Tuesday night.
“We are in as good a shape as you can expect with 70 per cent of our population flooded”, Ramsey said.
More than 20 inches of rain have fallen in and around Baton Rouge since last week, and more is on the way, forecasters said. On Saturday, she awoke at 9 a.m.to rising, knee-deep water in her backyard.
“We are going to have to search and mark each of those cars”, the governor said.
Dramatic footage has emerged of the moment a man saved a woman and her dog from drowning as their vehicle became fully submerged in Louisiana flood waters. The station also broadcast video from inside the city hall building of Denham Springs, also east of Baton Rouge, that showed the flooding had reached chest high before receding. “The other big challenge is that if people wake up tomorrow and say they need flood insurance because there’s a hurricane coming next week, it’s a 30 day wait to get the policy”.
“The fact that so many people in Louisiana have been forced out of their own homes this week is heartbreaking”, the 26-year-old said in a statement.
President Barack Obama expanded the existing federal disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana to include eight additional parishes. “Once the water recedes, all these homes that are completely covered with water, we got to go to every single one of those and go inside of them and check for anybody who might be in those areas”, he told CNN. “It’s as high as I’ve ever seen it”.
In Tangipahoa Parish, authorities believe that a 20-year-old woman found inside her auto was killed after her vehicle was washed right off the road, leaving it completely submerged.
Another neighbor, Brad Jacobs, hopped in a canoe and paddled across the road to his home to grab fresh clothes.
Shoes, children’s toys and household items floated through knee-deep water outside his home.
Resident Toni Denova just bought new furniture for her home but that’s not what anxious her.
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“I have a box full of pictures in my garage that I hope get saved”. “But I’m there with her to let her know everything’s going to be OK”.
