Rescues spike overnight in flooded Baton Rouge

Flooding is expected to continue through the weekend in southern Louisiana, and the National Weather Service has extended its flash flood warning for seven parishes to 1:45 p.m. CT Saturday.

Gov. Edwards noted that he and his family were forced to leave the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity shut off.

The Rho Epsilon chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority has started a GoFundMe account to raise money for families and students in the Baton Rouge area who have been affected by flooding. He later toured flood-ravaged areas by helicopter and warned Louisiana residents it would be too risky to venture out even once the rains begin to subside.

The floods, which have killed at least three people, are the result of torrential downpours that continue to batter parts of the southern U.S. state.

The deluge has been blamed for the deaths of at least three people so far, while another 2 to 4 inches of rain was expected Sunday in and around Baton Rouge. “We are asking everyone to be patient”. “This is a very slow-moving, low pressure system”, Edwards said.

A woman survived a near-drowning in Louisiana floodwater thanks to some men on a boat who arrived at the flawless time, and it was captured on a dramatic video.

Jumping into the water, the man grabs at the woman’s limp arms and pulls her out of the auto. Rescuer David Phung then leaps into the water and rips open the cloth top of the convertible, pulling the woman through the water and onto the surface.

“Get my dog, get my dog“, she said, her frantic voice, choked with water. At that moment, the dog popped up from the water into the man’s arms. With the auto completely out of sight, the boaters respond, “We can’t get the dog”.

Emergency officials were still working on strategies to rescue an undetermined number of other people trapped by the waters, Edwards said. Doug Cain, spokesman of the Louisiana State Police, said about 125 vehicles became stranded on the seven-mile stretch, prompting those rescues. Farmland was covered, streets descended into impassable pools of water, shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peeking above the water.

Best said the water is still rising.

The Sheriff’s Department of Livingston Parish in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area told ABC News that thousands have been rescued in that parish alone and that roughly 100 people were still waiting for help as of early Sunday morning.

Though we were unable to find confirmation that the people involved escaped floodwaters in current reports, everyone appears to be safe at the end of the video. “It has not stopped at all today”. More than 5,000 people spent the Saturday night in shelters and capacity is being increased to take on more Sunday. Nearby her were a pregnant woman and an 80-year-old woman. “The whole time I was just praying for God to make sure me and my family were OK”. Some areas got even more rain.

In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge reported as much as 11.34 inches of rain fell compared with 2.34 inches at New Orleans’ global airport in Kenner.

A storm that’s been drenching southeast Louisiana is forecast to head toward the central and northern part of the state while parts of southern MS are under a state of emergency.

This is in addition to the state of emergency Edwards declared Friday.

The auto fully submerged before the woman was pulled to safety. The woman’s husband and mother-in-law clung to a tree for hours before being rescued Saturday, Martin added.

Numerous rivers in southeast Louisiana and southern MS were overflowing.

As floodwaters swallowed Lyn Gibson’s two-story home in Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish, 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 sheet rock. “I don’t know how long that is going to last because it’s getting kind of hot”, she said. “I’d kick at it for a while”.

On Saturday, Gov. John Bel Edwards called the disaster a “truly historic event” that won’t be over anytime soon.