Residents wade through floodwaters from heavy rains in the Chateau Wein Apartments in Baton Rouge, La., Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. In late December and early January, record flooding along the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, Missouri killed at least two dozen people, prompting then-Governor Bobby Jindal to declare a state of emergency.
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More than 10,000 people were in shelters Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The neighbouring states of Alabama and MS are also experiencing severe weather.
Livingston Parish was among the hardest hit, with some towns completely cut off. Hundreds of motorists were stranded along the local interstate, according to officials.
Meteorologists Jeff Masters and and Bob Henson write Sunday that “widespread rainfall amounts in excess of twenty inches since Friday have brought all ten river gauges on the Amite, Tickfaw, and Comite Rivers to record flood crests, flooded thousands of homes, and caused over 1,000 water rescues”.
“This is the worst it’s been, ever, ” Mr Mitchell said. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency also moved 56 people to a shelter because of flooded homes. Water was creeping up to the back of the sanctuary, and they didn’t have any food or water there.
“The last I heard my sister was there and it was on fire”, she said. “The whole time I was just praying for God to make sure me and my family were OK”.
“Maybe she’s gone”, said one of the men in the boat.
“We work closely with our partners such as the Louisiana State Animal Response Team (LSART) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to ensure that anyone who evacuates to a shelter that accepts pets has the accommodations needed”. A tropical storm-like weather system stalled over the region, pouring more than two feet of rain in some areas since Friday.
Edwards officially requested federal assistance in paying for emergency operations.
Parish President Layton Ricks said, thankfully, there have been no flood-related fatalities in the parish, although there have been some “serious situations”. “That’s never happened before”, Edwards said.
An elderly man drowned yesterday after slipping and falling in high waters amid heavy rain in East Baton Rouge Parish. The number of deaths increased when a man’s body was found on the Tangipahoa Parish riverbank. “The woman’s name will be released following family notification”.
Searches are continuing for missing people, as the rain is expected to continue over the weekend.
Numerous rivers in southeast Louisiana and southern MS were overflowing their banks.
Several rivers in Louisiana and MS are overflowing. In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge had as much as 11 inches while one weather observer reported more than 17 inches in Livingston. “It is ongoing. It is not over”, said the governor, emphasizing that in some areas water is still rising. He said another stepson who lives nearby alerted him. “The water’s going to rise in many areas”. “It came up to my waist”. His wife told Hansford that it’s the highest she’s seen the creek in the 48 years she’s lived there.
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In Crosby, Mississippi, more than 50 people flooded out of a neighborhood will be housed at a shelter in Natchez. Some 1,700 National Guard personnel were mobilized, with another 300 or more on the way, and almost 195 high-water vehicles tasked or staged to help local and state officials with rescue and response efforts in a 12-parish region sweeping from Lafayette to Tangipahoa, the Guard said Sunday afternoon. “People that should have evacuated didn’t, so they are having to be evacuated”, he said.
