Thousands were hunkering down in shelters after waterways in the southern part of the USA state overflowed their banks following more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain between Thursday and Saturday. Officials said that there were two deaths in Livingston Parish, two in St. Helena, five in East Baton Rouge, three in Tangipahoa and one in Rapides Parish.
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Baton Rouge was pounded with more than 19 inches of rain during those same 15 hours. It started flooding the very next day, water ultimately rising above three feet inside his home.
Gueydan Fire Chief Evans Bourque says there’s an area in Vermilion Parish that’s outside the levee system and residents there are urged to evacuate.
This NBC Nightly News clip shows some before and after images of the flooding.
(AP Photo/Max Becherer). Daniella Letelier puts wet family photos out to dry as she cleans her flood damaged home in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
“When you have a storm that is unnamed, wasn’t a tropical storm, wasn’t a hurricane, a lot of the times people underestimate the impacts that it would have”, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Tuesday.
“If you have a unit that’s an old mother-in-law suite and you can rent it out, let us know”, said Keith Cunningham, who heads the Louisiana Housing Corporation, the state housing agency.
Kunzelman reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“My neighbor sent me a picture”.
“Nobody wants to do a long-term shelter”, she said.
One of the hardest hit areas is Livingston Parish with an official estimating 75 per cent of homes totally destroyed. He says water had never gotten within 200 yards of his business, until the weekend.
Performer Taylor Swift told The Associated Press she is donating $1 million to flood relief.
People whose homes were swamped by some of the heaviest rains Louisiana has ever seen are staying in shelters, bunking with friends or relatives, or sleeping in trailers on their front lawns.
Almost 800 evacuees were gathered in a makeshift Red Cross shelter established in Gonzales at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, a multipurpose facility that has hosted rodeos, vehicle and truck shows and concerts.
More than 70,000 people have registered for individual assistance and more than 9,000 have filed flood insurance claims. “At least 11 people have died in the floods”, weather.com reported. “I don’t know where it’s at right now”, Melancon said.
The governor said he is anxious about “battle fatigue” setting in as rescuers and residents deal with day upon day of stress.
The trauma was evident among people who went back Tuesday. There were fish and thousands of spiders.
“It is something that is going to take months upon months to recover from”, Ard said.
Joseph Bruno, a New Orleans lawyer who is a veteran of the Katrina insurance wars, fears the greatest needs could be borne by elderly residents who paid off their homes and weren’t required by their bank to carry flood insurance.
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Ronald Robillard, 57, and his 65-year-old brother, William Robillard, have been living next door to each other in Baton Rouge homes owned by the older brother.
