Heavy downpours on Friday pounded parts of the central US Gulf Coast, forcing the rescue of dozens of people stranded in homes by waist-high water and leaving two people dead in floodwaters.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency as rescue workers in the southeastern part of the state braced for more precipitation through the weekend.
Edwards’ spokesman Richard Carbo said the governor returned to Louisiana on Friday because of the flooding. He had been in Colorado for a policy meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, but left early because of the storm.
Photo: AP
Edwards returned home to a flooded basement at the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge.
Numerous rivers in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi were overflowing their banks and threatening widespread flooding after extreme rainfall that began late on Thursday, the US National Weather Service reported.
A spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said one man died on Friday after slipping into a flooded ditch near the city of Zachary.
Casey Rayborn Hicks identified the victim as 68-year-old William Mayfield. His body was found around noon on Friday.
William “Beau” Clark, the parish coroner, ruled the death “an accidental drowning.”
A second victim was found in St Helena Parish where crews pulled a body from a submerged pickup on Louisiana Highway 10.
State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning confirmed they found a man in his 50s inside a marooned Chevrolet pickup truck at around 7pm on Friday. The body was turned over to the parish coroner’s office.
His name has not been released, but Browning said he is believed to be from the area.
Crews are continuing to search for possibly another washed away vehicle after residents reported a missing person.
Browning said the area is sparsely populated and authorities only came across the vehicle after earlier successfully rescuing the driver of an 18-wheeler whose truck was pushed off the roadway.
“The water was coming over the road for over a half-mile [800m],” Browning said. “It’s about 1 to 2 feet [30 to 60cm] of rushing water, enough to push a large truck off the road completely. The truck was found in a curve before where the 18-wheeler went off the road.”
He said some people with a boat helped to find the pickup and would continue searching for the possible second vehicle through the night.
Mike Steele, a spokesman for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said requests were coming in for high-water vehicles, boats and sandbags.
A flood watch remains in effect through this morning across most of south Louisiana.
The weather service said in a statement that an additional 75mm to 125mm could fall over the area.
In south Alabama, a flood watch was in effect on Friday as rain fell in the Mobile area.
The Comite River near Baton Rouge and Amite River near Denham Springs, both in Louisiana, were predicted to set record crests over the weekend.
Forecaster Alek Krautmann said both rivers could flood many houses in suburban areas near Baton Rouge.
He also said that flooding downstream in Ascension Parish is a threat, as those swollen rivers would be slow to drain into Lake Maurepas.
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