20,000 Displaced, 6 Killed in Historic Flooding

Mike Steele, communications director for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told weather.com on Sunday that there was a huge spike in flood rescues Saturday into Sunday, mostly in the eastern half of Baton Rouge into Denham Springs.

“It’s kind of an all hands on deck,” he said in a phone interview. “We still have a situation where motorists are stranded on I-12, and it remains closed between here and St. Tammany Parish, so the whole interstate system from Baton Rouge to that location is still closed.”

A state police spokesman said Sunday night that authorities were going car to car to rescue people stranded on the interstate from the horrific flooding.

Maj. Doug Cain from the Louisiana State Police said about 125 vehicles are stranded on Interstate 12 between Tangipahoa Parish and Baton Rouge. He says most of the vehicles are on a seven-mile stretch of the freeway.

Steele said more than 1,000 homes have been flooded in Baton Rouge, and that number that is expected to climb. In Livingston, more than 1,000 homes have been flooding, along with 200 in St. Helena Parish, and 500 or more in Tangipahoa Parish. Apart from residential damage, Steele said they are also monitoring nursing homes and hospitals in the area that could be impacted by rising water.

Steele said the Louisiana Air National Guard has about 200 full-time employees working, plus about 750 guardsmen that have been deployed, a number that could climb to 1,000 soon. Additionally, he said 160 high water vehicles were in use as of last night, along with 35 watercraft, which brought the LANG rescue total to more than 3,500 people and 166 pets as of Sunday morning.

As more rain fell and floodwaters rose Saturday night in the Baton Rouge area, Steele said buses were used to move people out of their communities. Steele then said as the water rapidly swelled, rescue efforts had to speed up with it.

“The water came up really fast overnight and we have more rain coming in now,” he said. “It got so bad, I could hear concern on the scanners saying we needed to move the buses out of there fast.”

Steele pointed out that motorists need to be aware of the current conditions and avoid site-seeing amid storm damage to avoid putting a further strain on state resources.

Flooding triggered by the heavy rainfall has killed at least six people, including a grandmother in Rapides Parish.

An East Baton Rouge woman was seen Saturday night attempting to turn around in high water when her vehicle was swept away. Sheriff’s officers recovered her body Sunday afternoon inside the flooded vehicle on the north side of Baton Rouge, WAFB reports.

East Baton Rouge Parish Emergency Management Director JoAnne Moreau told CNN that the body of an elderly man was recovered. The victim was being helped through floodwaters when he slipped into a ditch.

The body of a 40-year-old woman from Amite was recovered Saturday from the Tickfaw River. 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.

The body of Greensburg resident Samuel Muse, 54, has been recovered in St. Helena Parish, State Police told the Baton Rouge Advocate. Muse was driving his pickup west on La. 10 when the vehicle was swept away by flood waters.

On Friday, 68-year-old William Mayfield drowned trying to escape floodwaters near Zachary, Louisiana, as heavy rains piled up water in the northeastern regions of the state, NBC News reported.

“We were in the trailer just watching TV and then the water just started coming up,” Vernon Drummond, Mayfield’s roommate, told the station. “We were walking out and he slipped and fell. He went under the water. We tried to save him, but we couldn’t.”

Rescue crews in Zachary recovered Mayfield’s body Friday morning, according to WAFB. Drummond says Mayfield is originally from Los Angeles and does not have any family in the area.

On Sunday, the body of another man was found  by a search crew of police and firefighters in Tangipahoa Parish. The man was reported missing on Friday after his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters in the area.

Police Chief Darrell Martin told CNN that the man’s son who was also in the vehicle has been located.

Weather.com

Image wsfa12news twitter