The Maurice Police Department are searching for a missing man after his vehicle was found flooded near a coulee on Etienne Road following severe weather on Monday.
Crews have called off the search Wednesday night because members of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue (SAR) Team were unable to breathe in the high water in the culvert, Maurice Police say.
A scuba diving team will be brought in but they are unable to dive at night, so the search will continue Thursday with the divers, police say.
Crews returned to searching on Wednesday after calling off the search Tuesday night. Police were searching a culvert near where Cleveland Duhon's vehicle was found. K9 units were brought in to help with the work.
Police Chief Guy Nerren tells KATC that they located a vehicle that drove off the roadway at around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday belonging to Duhon. It was recovered but Nerren says that no one was found inside.
Helicopters canvased from above and sonar searched nearby ponds on Tuesday. They have not yet located Duhon. Police believe that Duhon may be in the culvert but have not yet been able to effectively search due to debris.
Family members tell KATC there is surveillance video that shows Duhon driving down Etienne Road through the rain and turning right into the coulee, where his vehicle completely submerges.
Family and friends gathered a ways down from the search site as crews looked for Duhon. Several cadaver dogs were helping in the search. Officials were hoping to get confirmation from the dogs and they can then begin searching again.
"The body of water that the culvert flows to goes from here to all the way into Abbeville," Clevland's brother Marcus Duhon said "If anybody sees anything please let us know."
KATC's Katie Easter was on the scene in Maurice Wednesday and had the latest on the search effort:
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