It’s 6:45 Friday morning; and as I’m leaving for work, my Dad texts me and says, “Maybe you shouldn’t go to work today, the weather is supposed to get really bad.” I blew it off. I already knew Baton Rouge was expected to get 5 inches of rain over the weekend, and the roadways around the city always hold water. I didn’t know this time would be very different.
It may not have been clear to me at 6:45 A.M. what was in store for Louisiana; but by mid-afternoon, as roads were closing, and evacuations were being called for, it soon became clear it was going to be a while before things were “normal” again.
Baton Rouge and surrounding areas received a complete downpour, without any slacking up, for 48 hours straight. More than 20 inches of rain fell over the Greater Baton Rouge Area.
The complete devastation Louisiana has experienced in the past week is not the product of failure to prepare or poor calls by our emergency preparedness personnel. No, the devastation was not something we could have prepared for; no one anticipated what happened. East Baton Rouge, Livingston, and Ascension Parishes aren’t below sea level (like New Orleans), and aren’t areas that are considered flood lands – despite popular believe that LA is one giant bayou. Almost no one purchases flood insurance in these areas because this just isn’t something that is expected to happen.
I was incredibly lucky and my home didn’t flood and wasn’t damaged. For the majority of my friends, this was not the case for them. This is a video of my friend’s home as the water began the rise on Friday. Mallory captioned this video on Facebook as saying “This was my house before it got bad. Heart broken. No idea if we will even have anything or when we will be able to get back.”
This video is from before we really had a grasp on what was in store for us, but it perfectly shows the helplessness Louisianians felt while evacuating their homes, and not knowing when they finally could return to them, if there would even be anything to return to.
This is my friend, Alyssa’s house before evacuating to Chalmette (near New Orleans). After 3 days, she was finally able to return to her house, only to find that everything inside her home was gone.
The search and rescue efforts have been no small feat. Law enforcement, first responders, and those crazy Cajun volunteers have worked around the clock literally driving boats up to the front doors of homes and rescuing those who were left stranded. Now, don’t be confused, people didn’t willfully ignore evacuations. Many roads flooded before the water reached homes, leaving people without any options.
Thus far, 20,000 people have been rescued.
The past month has been a tumultuous time for Baton Rouge following the officer shooting of Alton Sterling, and the assassinations of 3 Baton Rouge officers. Protests covered our city. Fear has been prevalent and sadness has been inescapable.
The interstate that runs from Baton Rouge to the burbs of New Orleans, I-12, was completely shut down over the weekend, due to patchy flooding. This shut down led to many people being left stranded on the interstate for almost the entire 48 hours it down-poured. Yet, Baton Rougeans spent their own money to purchase enough supplies to cook enough food to feed those that were trapped on the interstate. And they did this more than once.
Aside from those gracious Louisianians serving food on the side of the interstate, many have volunteered in shelters, or set up donation drives to help get non-perishable food items and clothes for the flood victims.
To make the rescue relief even more chaotic, all AT&T cell services were completely down on Sunday. People were left hoping that eventually their loved ones would call from a shelter saying they were safe.
Source: LA National Guard
After all this city has been through in the past month, it’s a beautiful, Southern thing to see this community come together and offer support, help, prayer, and love to each other.
However, none of the awful events Louisiana has experienced in the past week have been covered by the national media; and Louisiana is furious. We feel forgotten by the national media and the federal government. We feel thrown to the side by the politicians who beg for our votes. In fact The River Center in downtown Baton Rouge is now being used as a shelter.
Majority of Louisiana (including myself, clearly) have taken to social media to express our anger and disbelief. Why has our tragedy not gotten any acknowledgement by the national media? Many in Louisiana believe that our tragedy has gone largely unnoticed because the community has come together in such a way, that the flooding can’t be used for any political agenda’s. If this is the case, it’s truly disheartening.
However, a few out-of-staters have acknowledged our tragedy: the University of South Carolina and Taylor Swift.
Last year, the Gamecocks were set to play the Tigers at home in South Carolina, but a massive flood caused the game to be moved to Baton Rouge. LSU treated the game as an away game, and all proceeds were given to the Gamecocks to help with relief efforts. This time, Baton Rouge is flooded, and USC is helping Baton Rouge The fellow SEC school has announced that it will collect donation items to send to floods victims. In the SEC, it isn’t always about winning football games.
Taylor Swift has also announced that she will be donating $1 Million to the relief efforts in Louisiana.
Currently, Louisiana is still experiencing a massive amount of raining, which will likely lead to more areas being flooded.
While the foreseeable future for Louisiana will be tough and uncertain, one thing is certain: I have never been more proud to call this state and this city my home. No matter what gets thrown our way, we will always be #unBRoken.
If you live near Louisiana and would like to help with the relief efforts, visit http://www.volunteerlouisiana.gov/. If you would like to donate to victims of the flooding, visit http://www.unitedwaysela.org/flood.
Follow the author on Twitter: @olivia_rochelle
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