40K homes damaged by Louisiana floods; 10 killed

“There are still a lot of people who are suffering”, including the 34 000 customers who remain without electricity in summer heat and humidity – raising concerns of mould, the governor said. He lost everything before when a fire destroyed his home.

Ronald Robillard, 57, and his 65-year-old brother, William Robillard, have been living next door to each other in Baton Rouge homes owned by the older brother.

There were 14,000 people staying in shelters, mostly in the state capital Baton Rouge and surrounding communities. She says Obama directed Fugate to use all available resources to assist in the response and recovery, and to regularly update him.

Emergency crews have already plucked more than 20,000 people and 1,000 pets to safety from flooded areas after a storm that broke records for 24-hour rainfall in multiple locations, Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters in Baton Rouge.

“We still have to go out with FEMA to get a comprehensive assessment of the damage”, said Steele.

Federal officials are expanding a disaster declaration in Louisiana after devastating floods killed at least 11 people and caused widespread property damage.

“This type of historic flooding has never been seen before and we are not out of danger yet”.

Louisiana residents have begun clearing mud and debris from flood-damaged homes while trying to line up alternate housing as the scope of the catastrophe becomes clear.

Lady Gaga says she’s pitching in to help with flood relief efforts in Louisiana.

Anyone with flood damage is eligible for FEMA aid of close to $33,000 – far less than many people without flood insurance will need to fix and replace their damaged property.

Harrowing rescues were posted on social media as emergency rescue teams continued to evacuate residents Monday in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes.

Many wrongly think that if their home isn’t right on the water, they’re safe from flooding, said insurance agent Jake Holehouse of the Holehouse Insurance Agency in St. Petersburg. Water was in the yard.

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a “total loss”. CNN reported that Edwards said, “This is a major disaster”.

“So when I saw this coming, I took the few things of sentimental value, got all the cows, the puppy dogs”, Henry said after feeding the bulls a batch of hay. It was a welcome moment of levity after days of worry around the state’s southeast, which saw thousands of water rescues.

Joseph Bruno, a New Orleans lawyer who is a veteran of the Katrina insurance wars, fears the greatest needs could be borne by elderly residents who paid off their homes and weren’t required by their bank to carry flood insurance.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as people filled sandbags there to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south.