As of noon, the waters are receding in some areas of Lafayette – but the danger’s not past.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. John Mowell said deputies still are out in their high-water vehicles assisting stranded motorists.
“The water’s receding in some areas and also going up in others,” Mowell said. “As Carencro’s draining, the drainage ditches are filling up down south. So it’s not over.”
Mowell reminds motorists not to drive through standing water.
“While you’re driving through standing water, if someone is coming toward you, they’re creating a wake,” he said. “So you might be able to clear it by yourself, but that other person driving toward you could send out a wake that could flood you out. Next thing you know, you’re out of a vehicle.”
Mowell said driving through standing water can also send water into other vehicles, as well as homes and businesses.
Craig Stansbury, head of the Lafayette Parish emergency operations office, said no injuries were reported and a small number of flooded buildings were reported.
“We sustained a large amount of rain in a small amount of time, and that resulted in the temporary flooding of the roads and certain intersections,” Stansbury said. “The most significant report we has was well over 100 stranded vehicles.”
A lot of those reports came early Thursday, and in areas that aren’t the “usual” locations for high water: Congress, Johnston and downtown, he added.
“I think a lot of these folks got up early in the morning, didn’t realize how bad it was and got stranded,” Stansbury said.
Stansbury said a couple more hours of rain could have made things a lot worse.
We’ll update this story with more details as they become available.
Here are some photos and video of high water in Lafayette Parish from our viewers, sent to us early Thursday:
This video was shot in Freetown by Cris Van Dyke. Law enforcement reminds people that they shouldn’t drive through flooded neighborhoods, because that can send water into people’s homes and cars.
Here’s another video of our Lafayette Firefighters helping a stranded citizen:
This video was shot by Kendell Lawrence off Moss Street, near Fat Albert’s
Here are some photos from Thursday morning:
Courtesy: David Thibodeaux
Courtesy David Savoie
Courtesy: Kat Keto
Courtesy: Pam Vallien
Courtesy: Paula Pendergrace
Courtesy: Mattie O’Brien
Courtesy: Ruth Johnson Huval
Courtesy: Tessa Credeur
Courtesy: Melanie Cook
Courtesy: Haili Arsement
Courtesy: Haili Arsement
These photos are from the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office:
