BATON ROUGE, La. —Robert and Gwen Arceneaux endured a sleepless night Sunday after noticing floodwater creeping into their home – in a neighborhood that had never seen water before.

They gathered up their dogs and a few bags of belongings and fled out the back door, eventually wading through waist-deep water to a passing National Guard truck. Now safe at a movie studio-lot-turned-shelter their worries weren’t over, as they tried to get medication for Robert, who suffers from lung cancer.

Members of the Louisiana Army National Guard rescue people from rising floodwater Sunday near Walker, La., after heavy rains inundated the region. With several rivers still rising, there is danger of more flooding. Associated Press photos by Max Becherer

A sign tells motorists to slow down to avoid pushing water into homes near Holden, La.

“We need to get somewhere safer,” Gwen said, as her dogs panted heavily under the hot sun.

Across southern Louisiana on Sunday, residents scrambled to get to safety as rivers and creeks burst their banks, swollen from days of heavy rain that in some areas came close to two feet over a 48-hour period.

In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of south Louisiana residents as the governor warned that it was not over.

From the air, homes in southwest Louisiana looked more like little islands surrounded by flooded fields. Farmland was covered, streets descended into impassable pools of water, shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peeking above the water.

From the ground it was just as catastrophic.

Drivers tried to navigate treacherous roads where the water lapped at the side or covered the asphalt in a running stream. Abandoned cars were pushed to the side of the road, lawn furniture and children’s toys floating through the waters.

The low pressure system that wreaked such havoc moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that there’s still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Most of the rivers have crested, but several are still rising.

Approximately 18,000 people have been rescued from East Baton Rouge and Livingston Parishes, said Maj. Doug Cain. Those were two of the hardest-hit areas.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards called on people to refrain from going out to “sightsee” even as the weather gets better.

“This is a serious event. It is ongoing. It is not over,” said the governor Sunday.

Four people have been reported dead, said Devin George, the state registrar for vital records. The death toll rose Sunday when a man’s body was found washed up on a riverbank in Tangipahoa Parish.

Mike Steele, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said there was an overnight spike in flood rescues in the eastern part of Baton Rouge. Two nursing homes were being evacuated.

Steele said the flooding that started Friday has damaged more than 1,000 homes in East Baton Rouge Parish, more than 1,000 homes in Livingston Parish, and hundreds more in other areas, including St. Helena and Tangipahoa parishes.

As of Sunday morning, some 5,050 people were staying in parish and Red Cross shelters, said Department of Children & Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters. Even more people were staying in private shelters like churches.

Related Stories