Flood-weary La. cleans house as search continues

Associated Press

ST. AMANT, LA.

Flood-weary residents cleaned out houses Saturday as search parties went door to door looking for survivors or bodies trapped by flooding so powerful in some cases it disturbed the dead and sent coffins floating from cemeteries.

At least 13 people died in the flooding that swept through parts of southern Louisiana after torrential rains lashed the region. An estimated 60,000 homes have been damaged, and 102,000 people have registered for federal assistance so far.

As waters are receding, residents are faced with mud-caked homes so thoroughly soaked that mold is a top concern.

“It’s much worse than I expected,” said Sheila Siener. “The water, the dirt, the smell. Water in the cabinets. Everything’s filthy. I’ve never been through a flood, so I really didn’t know.”

In other areas the water is still high enough to cause concern. In Lake Arthur, pumps and sandbags were keeping floodwaters out of the town of 2,700 in southwest Louisiana. But authorities said there’s still too much danger for people to return.

In a uniquely Louisiana problem, some families also are trying to rebury relatives whose coffins were unearthed by the floods.

At least 15 cemeteries across seven parishes have had disruptions, the Louisiana Department of Health reported Saturday, although they don’t yet have an estimate of how many graves, tombs and vaults have been damaged.

The department is reaching out to affected parishes to do assessments. In most cases, the disinterred coffins and vaults are still within the territory of the cemetery, although one coffin ended up in a nearby backyard.

In other areas, the search for the living goes on.

Search teams went house to house Saturday in Ascension Parish and will continue the search today, said Brant L. Thompson from the State Fire Marshal’s office. Thompson said aerial surveys Saturday indicated that waters in lower Livingston Parish had receded enough to allow them to search neighborhoods that were off limits due to high water earlier.