UPDATED: Flash flood warning extended; 1,000 rescued across state

The flash flood warning for St. Mary and surrounding areas has been extended until 6:15 p.m. today. Just before 2 p.m., National Weather Service radar picked up bands of heavy rain that are expected to bring rain of 1 to 4 inches across the region, and even heavier rain in the western portions of south Louisiana.

A flash flood watch is in effect until 7 a.m. Sunday.

The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office reports no current road closures. But the forecast calls for another 2-4 inches of rain into the early afternoon, and heavy rain is expected into tonight.
A list of road closures appears below.

The gauge at Patterson Memorial has recorded 1.82 inches of rain since midnight and just less than 7 inches since 1 a.m. Friday.

National Guard soldiers and other officials in boats and helicopters plucked more than 1,000 people from their homes and cars as "unprecedented, historic" flooding swamped Louisiana, the governor said Saturday, warning that the slow-moving storm would dump even more rain and cause further problems.

At least two people were killed when swift-moving water quickly inundated roads. Searches were underway for missing people.

"This is an ongoing event. We're still in response mode," Gov. John Bel Edwards said, urging residents to heed warnings to evacuate and not rely on their past experiences because the state has never seen flooding like this before.

Beginning Friday, 6 to 10 inches of rain fell on parts of Louisiana and an additional 4 to 6 inches was possible Saturday afternoon, National Weather forecaster Donald Jones said.

Mississippi and Alabama were also struggling with heavy rainfall.

In Baker, just north of Baton Rouge, residents said they had to be rescued by boats or wade 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-year-old girlfriend, Haybriel Thomas; her 1 year-old daughter, Kaylee; and Mitchell's father.

"This is the worst it's been, ever," Mitchell said of the flooding. "We tried to wait it out, but we had to get out."

Mitchell fears 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.

"People are keeping it together better than I thought they would," he said of the roughly 60 people who stayed at the Red Cross shelter.

Shanita Angrum, 32, said she called 911 on Friday morning when she realized flood waters had trapped her family in their home. A police officer carried her 6-year-old daughter, Khoie, on his back while she and her husband waded behind them for what "felt like forever."

"Snakes were everywhere," she said. "The whole time I was just praying for God to make sure me and my family were OK."

Angrum said her family probably lost most of their possessions, including two cars and the new school clothes she purchased for her daughter.

"We got to start all over," she said.

The storm system was drifting slowly west from southeast Louisiana to an area along the central Gulf coast.

Edwards declared a state of emergency Friday. The flooding forced Edwards and his family out of the Governor's Mansion, where chest-high water had filled the basement and electricity to the building had to be cut off.

"That's never happened before," he said.

The governor and his family have relocated to a state police facility in the Baton Rouge area, and his home in the hard-hit area of Tangipahoa Parish hasn't taken any water.

One man died Friday after slipping into a flooded ditch near the city of Zachary, said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's spokesman Casey Rayborn Hicks, who identified the victim as 68-year-old William Mayfield.

A second victim, 54-year-old Samuel Muse, was found in St. Helena Parish, where crews pulled his body from a submerged pickup on Louisiana Highway 10, authorities said.

State Sen. Bodi White, who represents some of the hardest-hit areas in the suburbs around Baton Rouge, said water has reached levels that were never recorded during 1983's record flood.

"This is going to be water we've never seen," he said Saturday. "They were getting people off roofs in St. Helena Parish."

Numerous rivers in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi were overflowing. The governor said some were expected to crest more than 4 feet above previous records and officials were not sure just how widespread the damage would be.

LSU canceled its football fan day amid the floods.

In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge reported as much as 11 inches of rain. One weather observer reported more than 17 inches of rainfall in Livingston, according to the National Weather Service.

The Comite River near Baton Rouge and Amite River near Denham Springs, both in Louisiana, were predicted to set record crests over the weekend.

The Tickfaw River, just south of the Mississippi state line in Liverpool, Louisiana, was already at the highest level ever recorded.

In southwest Mississippi, Leroy Hansford, his wife and stepson were among those rescued near Gloster, which had more than 14 inches of rain.

Hansford, 62, said waters from Beaver Creek, which is normally more than 400 feet away from his house, rose quickly overnight. He said another stepson who lives nearby alerted him.

"We woke up and the water kept on coming," Hansford said. "It came up to my waist." His wife told Hansford that it's the highest she's seen the creek in the 48 years she's lived there.

In the small town of Crosby, the heavy rains and flooding affected nearly all of the 342 people who live there, said Wilkerson County's emergency management director, Thomas Tolliver Jr. Some people were able to leave on their own, but others had to be recused.

Tolliver said Saturday the water has started to recede and those living in Crosby will be allowed back in by Sunday to assess the damage.

ROAD CLOSURES

Iberia Parish

US 90 service roads between LA 675 and La 88

US 90 closed between LA 14 and LA 88

LA 89 at Raven Road

High Water:

LA 14 at LA 83

US 90 at LA 88

LA 182 (St. Peter Street) in New Iberia at multiple locations

LA 89 at Raven Road

LA 14 at LA 676 (Valerie Road)

Lafayette Parish

Closures:

LA 339 (Verot School Road) from Vincent Road to LA 92

LA 342 (Ridge Road) from Ile Des Cannes Road to Roundabout at LA 93 (Rue de Belier)

LA 339 from Blanco Rd to Detente

LA 92 from LA 733 to US 90 (milton St., Iberia St., Young St., LA 92-1)

LA 733 from Kaliste Saloom to Vermilion River

US 90 at LA 3073 (Ambassador Caffery)

LA 95 form I-10 to 2/10 of a mile North of I-10

LA 182 at Lafayette/St. Landry Parish line

LA 3073 (Ambassador Caffery) from Johnston Street to Vermilion River

LA 342 from LA 700 to LA 35

LA 700 from LA 342 to Vermilion Parish line

LA 724 (Duhon Road) from W. Broussard to Lagneaux

High Water:

US 167 (Johnston Street) at LA 182 (University)

US 90 about 1/2 mile south of Morgan Street in Broussard

LA 93 at St. Louis to Lion's Cub Road

LA 343 from Ridge Road to LA 342

LA 343 from Hank Road to Landry

LA 342 from LA 343 to LA 700

LA 724 (Fieldspan) from Ridge Road to Duhon Rd.

LA 89 at LA 182 (Pinhook)

St. Martin Parish

Closures:

LA 182 from LA 92 to LA 96

LA 347 from LA 328 to LA 349

US 90 at LA 92

LA 96 from LA 31 to LA 345
LA 347 north of LA 678

LA 92 from LA 182 to US 90

LA 96 from LA 182 to LA 31

LA 92 from LA 182 to LA 31

High Water:

LA 96, 1 mile east of the Lafayette Parish line

LA 347 at Groavouia

I-10 on/off Ramps at LA 347 (Henderson)

LA 679 (Coteau Holmes Road) near the address of 3011 Coteau Holmes Road

LA 3039 at Devillier Road