The Red Cross has opened more than a dozen shelters across the state.
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At least one fatality was reported.
Schools, government offices and many businesses were closed.
In March, heavy rains and storms lead to widespread floods that damaged thousands of homes in northern Louisiana.
Krautmann says flooding is “quickly becoming widespread” as heavy rains continue, saying officials are considering evacuation orders.
President Barack Obama declared that a “major disaster” had hit the state, and the Louisiana’s emergency management office described the flooding as a “historic flood event”.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says the train stopped Friday in Jackson, and Amtrak was planning to get passengers to New Orleans by bus. “On radar, this storm looks like the equivalent of a tropical depression or tropical storm and is sitting right over Louisiana, and will threaten the state with heavy rain right into Saturday”.
“They will be allowed to return home once the water starts to recede”, he said.
In Mississippi, Harrison County Emergency Manager Rupert Lacy said steady rain continued on the Gulf Coast.
The NWS is also forecasting heavy rain at times from the Southern High Plains to the Great Lakes and eastward into New England through Sunday.
Several roads were shut down in various counties and at least five people were rescued in the small town of Osyka in Pike County, just over the border with Louisiana, CNN affiliate WJTV reported.
Meteorologist Alek Krautmann at the weather service office in Slidell, Louisiana, said the MS town of Gloster, in Amite County has received almost 10 inches of rain since Thursday night.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch into the weekend for parts of southern MS and southeastern Louisiana, including New Orleans. In the Mobile area, forecasters expect an additional 2.2 inches of rain Friday, with higher amounts possible in some areas.
“The potential for heavier rainfall increases closer toward the coast”, the weather service said in a morning update.
“Some of the things we’re seeing – cars driving around barricades, cars driving through roads with moving water, driving through roads with water and pushing that water up into peoples’ yards – certainly we want people to be safe and adhere to the warnings that are out there”, said Major Doug Cain with the Louisiana State Police.
Rivers in Southeast Louisiana are expected to crest Saturday morning, causing more flooding to homes nearby.
St. James, Washington, Tangipahoa (tan-jih-puh-HOH’) and St. Tammany parishes and the Bogalusa (bohg-uh-LOOS’-uh) City School District announced early Friday schools would be closed due to weather and flooding concerns.
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A National Weather Service volunteer measured 17.09 inches of rain in Livingston, Louisiana since midnight – making the deluge a 1-in-1000-year rainfall for that location.
