Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Amid dramatic rescues, three dead in La. floods
Baton Rouge swamped by ‘historic’ disaster
BATON ROUGE, La. — As the floodwaters swallowed Lyn Gibson’s two-story home, she hacked away on a hole near the roof, desperately trying to get to safety.
She used a saw, a screwdriver and her feet, knocking her way through wood, vinyl and sheet rock.
“I just kept picking and hitting and prying until I could get a hole big enough,” the slightly-built, 115-pound woman said. “I would saw for a while. I’d kick at it for a while.”
Eventually, Gibson made it out of her Tangipahoa Parish home with her dogs, and they were all rescued by National Guard soldiers on a boat. It was one of thousands of rescues after a deluge dropped more than a foot of rain on parts of Louisiana, submerging roads, cars and homes.
At least three people were killed across the state.
In another dramatic moment, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car that was almost completely underwater, according to video by WAFB. The woman, who is not initially visible on camera, yells from inside the car: “Oh my god, I’m drowning.”
One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety. She pleads with Phung to get her dog, but he can’t find it. After several seconds, Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces — with the small dog. Both the woman and dog appeared to be OK.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency, calling the floods “unprecedented” and “historic.” He and his family were even forced to leave the Governor’s Mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was shut off.
During an aerial tour, an Associated Press reporter saw homes in parts of rural Tangipahoa Parish that looked like little islands among flooded fields. Farmland was covered and streets descended into impassable pools of water.
In the Livingston Parish city of Denham Springs, a suburb of Baton Rouge, entire shopping centers were inundated, only roofs of cars peeking above the water. And in many places, the water was still rising, with days expected before rivers were expected to crest.
“This is an ongoing event,” Edwards said, urging residents to heed warnings to evacuate and be prepared for a disaster that could last for several days.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said 2,000 people in his parish alone had been rescued, and more people still await help.
In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge had as much as 11 inches while one weather observer reported more than 17 inches in Livingston.
The body of a woman from Amite was recovered Saturday from the Tickfaw River, according to Michael Martin, chief of operations for the St. Helena Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, her husband and the woman’s mother-in-law were driving on a state highway Friday when their car was swept off the road. The woman’s husband and mother-in-law clung to a tree for hours before they were rescued Saturday, Martin said.
A 68-year-old man, William Mayfield, died Friday after slipping into a flooded ditch near the city of Zachary, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff. Also, the body of Samuel Muse, 54, was found in St. Helena Parish, where crews pulled him from a submerged pickup on Louisiana Highway 10, authorities said.