Floods Shut Roads, Rout Residents in Louisiana

Flooding caused by up to 10 inches of rain forced evacuations Monday in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, with so many roads closed that Monroe, La., officials ran out of barricades and Ouachita Parish ran out of sandbags.

“In north Louisiana . . . you can’t get there unless you have a boat,” State Police Capt. Ronnie Jones said, adding that at least 65 roads were closed in the region.

The Army Corps of Engineers sent more sandbags to Ouachita Parish after it ran out, said Jackie Little, parish (county) civil defense director.

“But there are some areas where they’re no good--when you sandbag an area, you have to pump the water somewhere, and everything’s full,” she said.

Little estimated that 600 homes were flooded in Ouachita Parish. “There are 250 with major damage in West Monroe alone, and we haven’t even done a count in the city of Monroe or Ouachita Parish in general,” she said.

An estimated 350 to 450 homes were flooded elsewhere. Up to 5 feet of water filled some lakeside houses, said Claiborne Parish Sheriff J. R. Oakes.

Schools were closed in nine northern and central parishes. High tide in the southern part of the state caused erosion at Grand Isle and closed schools in Lafitte.

In Mississippi, flooding caused evacuations in Grenada and some people sought shelter in City Hall. Grenada’s public schools were closed because of street flooding.

The heaviest rain was at Monroe, La., where 9.42 inches of rain fell between 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m Monday. The Ouachita River rose almost 2 feet in 24 hours and stood at 44.75 feet. Flood stage at Monroe is 40 feet.

Authorities evacuated 175 people from the Guest House nursing home in West Monroe.

Beauregard, Bienville and DeSoto parishes were added Monday to a federal disaster declaration.

The Southern flooding came on the heels of a devastating tornado that crushed a mobile home park in Andover, Kan., killing 14 people.

Hundreds of survivors picked through the wreckage of the 40-acre Golden Spur Mobile Home Park on Monday as cleanup continued, and donated clothing and food poured in at an overwhelming pace.

In all, 22 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed when more than 40 tornadoes touched down across Kansas and Oklahoma on Friday night.