Seven dead, 30,000 rescued in record Louisiana floods
Louisiana faced epic flooding on Monday, with seven people killed and thousands evacuated to emergency shelters after waterways in the southern part of the state overflowed their banks.
Some areas have received more than 500 millimeters of rain since Thursday, sub merging vast swaths of southern Louisiana in muddy waters.
“Our state is currently experiencing a historic flooding event that is breaking every record,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said in a statement late on Monday.
“This event is ongoing, it is not over,” he said. “We do not know when the floodwaters will recede, and they will continue to rise in some areas.”
About 30,000 people had been rescued, including a 78-year-old woman who spent a night in a tree, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson told CNN.
There were 14,000 people staying in shelters, mostly in the state capital Baton Rouge, he said.
Police said the Louisiana National Guard would assist evacuees in the massive shelters, which included a Baton Rouge film studio complex and an entertainment center in the city’s downtown area.
A helicopter survey late on Monday by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office showed large areas of submerged land. Muddy water covered roads, forested areas, and residential zones, cars and even the better part of some dwellings.
Seven people were confirmed dead, Edmonson said, noting the toll could rise in coming days.
“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.
Some 40,000 homes and business were reported without power.
Disaster areas
The White House declared four parishes — equivalent to counties in other states — major disaster areas.
“I fully expect that more parishes will be added to the declaration on a rolling basis,” Edwards said.
Floodwaters appeared to be receding in some areas, but were flowing into others. The National Weather Service continued to issue flood warnings in effect through early Tuesday, saying water in many areas would not recede at least for another day.
The Amite River, the source of flooding for many areas, had risen 4.3 meters above flood level in one reading, besting a previous record flood in April 1983, the NWS said.
The agency forecast the river would not fall below flood level until Wednesday morning.
Officials reported that hundreds of roads, mostly in the southern parts of the state, were closed.
“That’s going to be the case over the next couple of days,” Edwards said.