Louisiana Floods Overtop Levee, Inundating [40,000] Homes

The highest flood crest ever observed on Louisiana’s Amite River has overtopped the Laurel Ridge Levee in Ascension Parish, about 20 miles southeast of the capital of Baton Rouge, resulting in the flooding of at least 15,000 homes—one third of the parish’s homes, reported the Baton Rouge Advocate on Tuesday morning. The river was not forecast to fall below its previous record height (set in 1983) until Wednesday. At least nine people have died in flooding in Louisiana that began last Friday, with at least 20,000 people rescued from flooded homes and vehicles; 10,000 people are in shelters due to the disaster. The federal government has declared the event a major disaster in four parishes: Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston. The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, said on CNN that he expects nearly half of all of the state’s parishes—30 out of 64—to be declared disaster areas