Rains came, won't leave

Two weekends ago a major storm front swept across the deep south, bringing about half of the Gulf of Mexico with it. A massive system of rain, traveling across east Texas and Louisiana (and most of the eastern seaboard, I assume), dumped rains ranging from 12 inches to more than two feet in a 24-hour period. The result was historic flooding in about one-third of Louisiana. Thousands of acres land and thousands of homes were submerged, several people were lost, and hundreds of livestock were drowned. Now, two weeks later, much of the flood water is still in place, and authorities say it will be here for several more weeks.

This flooding was particularly destructive because it affected people who are not normally touched by flood waters from rising streams. The torrential downpour caught people by surprise, in the middle of the night. Lots of people stepped out of their beds into water in their bedroom. As a result they had little if any time to collect valuables, or even to escape in their automobiles. The roads were already under water by that time. So, lots of people have lost everything, and a large percentage of them had no flood insurance (weren't in a defined flood zone, didn't think they needed it).

The photos here were taken by the Bossier Parish (county) Sheriff's Office while they were out rescuing people trapped in their homes. I wish I knew how to caption each photo, but most of them are self-explanatory, except for the one of the inevitable looter who was caught on surveillance cam.

Sorry about so many photos. I did manage to get in a tractor.

Incredible photos, Jerry.

Man, what a bummer! I just cannot fathom dealing with flooding.

Terrible carnage. Definitely feel for the folks. Lots of livestock displaced, and I'm sure many died in the water. Terrible situation for sure. Bob

terrible,,so sorry for the damage

Jerry, we had the same, I live in the river hills and only had partial flooding on two places, the other two are all high ground, I planted plenty of oats last fall and have a lot of hay so was able to offer pasture to a few people who were flooded out by rising water, at least we had a couple of days to get their cows out and moved. Planted corn the 5th of March on high ground so maybe it will be allright.

Excellent pix , thanks for posting them !!

wow: and i was looking out the window at the snow here in denver, colo. area, after seeing your pics, my heart goes out to you and others in that bad sitution...

I wondered how you were affected, LAA. I attempted to make the point that these photos show only a small portion of a relatively small area. These scenes can be duplicated in many places in all four corners of the state. This is not an isolated event just in my town.

Your mention of planting reminds me of reports that many acres of hay fields are still under water, and a lot of farmers are going to miss the first cutting at best. People here will be looking for hay later on.

LAA, just saw on the news that down in Calcasieu Parish the caskets are popping out of the ground like your spring corn. They have at least 22 unidentified bodies in the coroner's office, and they don't know where to re-plant them. And, unfortunately, when they do get it all sorted out, there's gonna be another ruckus about who pays for this morbid deja vu--families say "Parish", Parish says "families."
Ain't Louisiana interesting?

I 10 was closed for about 4 days last week in Calcasieu Parish where it crosses the Sabine river due to water on the road.

In SE La we got hit with a double whammy about a week apart. Second one was much worse than the first as people north of us also got a lot of rain. This made any place next to a river flood bad.
Personally we did OK. Roads and yards flooded but nothing in the house or cars.

My daughter and son in law did take my flat boat to go rescue a uncle of my SIL.
His car was flooded and water on his porch but it did not cross threshold into his raised house.

All you have to do is go to local jurisdiction and ask to see the latest FEMA flood plain map for the area. Takes all the mystery out of it. You may not like what you see, but yo will see the boundaries of the 100-year and 500-year flood plains. You can also go online and see the same maps if you can determine how to do it.