This aerial image shows flooded areas of North Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Saturday. (AP)
WALKER, Louisiana — Barbara Manuel saw a shaft of sunlight and that gave her hope that the worst of the horrific flooding to hit southern Louisiana was over. But then the skies ripped open, the lights in her house started to flicker and with three feet of water outside threatening to come in and two young kids to care for, she knew it was time to get out.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Manuel said, speaking on the side of the road as she was about to get in a National Guard vehicle. The 41-year-old is one of more than 20,000 people rescued from their homes as of Sunday as rain-swollen rivers flooded their banks and wreaked havoc across southern Louisiana.
She was worried about her mother who lives just up the road. High waters made the trip impassable and cellphone problems made it difficult to reach her. But Manuel’s two children — a 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son — were fine.
“As long as my kids are safe, that’s all that matters,” she said.
Across southern Louisiana 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.
More than 10,000 people were in shelters Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of south Louisiana residents as the governor warned 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.