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Excessive backwater flooding affecting St. Landry Parish

Posted at 9:53 PM, Jul 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-17 07:23:13-04

MORROW — Some families in Acadiana are still dealing with impacts of Hurricane Barry. When the storm moved out, for some, a new problem came in.

In northern St. Landry Parish, some families made it through Barry without any damage, but after the storm came backwater flooding.

Gwen Mayhall and her family are one of the families dealing with the after effects.

"We woke up to water in our homes at about 2 o'clock this morning. At that point there was nothing we could do and no one we could call. We tried 911 and they said they don't handle those kinds of emergencies," Mayhall said.

Mayhall says the water behind her house has rise 18 inches since Monday, which caused water to seep into her house throughout the day.

"We have never seen this. My husband has been in this community for 63 years and every neighbor we talked to have never seen anything like it," Mayhall said.

After daylight, the family lined the house with sandbags and brought pumps in to get the rising water out.

"Its devastating to us. My husband has retired and I am retired. All we have is a little income from our retirement checks. I don't know how we are going to replace everything we have lost and are going to lose," Mayhall said.