3 killed in Louisiana flooding
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 Sheetrock.
“I just kept picking and hitting and prying until I could get a hole big enough,” the slight-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 more than 1,000 rescues after a deluge swamped parts of Louisiana, submerging roads, cars and homes.
At least three people were killed.
In another dramatic moment, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car almost completely underwater, according to video by WAFB. The woman, who is not initially visible on camera, yelled from inside the car: “Oh my god, I’m drowning.”
One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumped into the brown water and pulled the woman to safety. She pleaded with Phung to get her dog, but he couldn’t find it. After several seconds, Phung took a deep breath, went underwater and resurfaced — with the small dog.
Both the woman and the 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 from the Governor’s Mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity had to be cut off.
“That’s never happened before,” said the governor, whose family relocated to a state police facility in the Baton Rouge area.
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.
“This is an ongoing event. We’re still in response mode,” Edwards said, urging residents to heed warnings to evacuate.
Beginning Friday, 6 to 10 inches of rain fell on parts of Louisiana and several more inches of rain fell in places on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for several counties in his state as it also battled the heavy rainfall.
In Baker, just north of Baton Rouge, residents were rescued by boats or waded though waist-deep, snake-infested water to reach dry ground. Dozens of them awoke Saturday morning on cots at a makeshift Red Cross shelter only a few blocks from their flooded homes and cars.
John Mitchell, 23, said he swam to safety with his pit bull after police officers in a boat picked up his 20-yearold girlfriend, her 1-year-old daughter and Mitchell’s father.
“This is the worst it’s been, ever,” Mitchell said. “We tried to wait it out, but we had to get out.”
Mitchell feared he lost their trailer home and his car, which was flooded up to the seats. A bag of clothes was all he had time to save as the water levels rapidly rose.