Louisiana flooding: Coffins seen floating down the streets after ‘1,000 year rain'

As the death toll from Louisiana’s flooding reaches nine and 10,000 people remain in shelters, emergency workers and residents are being confronted by another challenge - the disquieting sight of coffins loosened by the waters floating down streets.

This is not the first time that severe flooding in the state has resulted in such disturbing scenes. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, many coffins were loosened and left floating in parts of the wrecked city of New Orleans

Over the weekend, police in the town of Walker, located east of the city of Baton Rouge, posted images of the coffins on their Facebook page.

“A photo of caskets which have floated up in the St Mark’s Cemetery on Dunn St in Walker as a result of the high water,” the post said.

One woman, Betty Worrell McGonigle, wrote in response: “My Daddy’s wife is buried here. I feel so sorry for her children.”

The deadly flooding that saw rivers and creeks bursting their banks, followed several days of heavy rain that in some locations saw more than half-a-metre fall in a 48-hour period. Experts said such an rainfall might fall only once in a thousand years.

The Associated Press said that rescuers had evacuated more than 20,000 people since the flooding started Friday and more than 10,000 people were in shelters as of late Sunday, according to Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.

In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of people and the governor warned it was not over.

“I've never seen anything like this before,” said Barbara Manuel, 41, speaking on the side of the road as she was about to get in a National Guard vehicle.

On Monday, the state’s Department of Children and Family Services said more people continued to arrive at shelters as new parts of Baton Rouge, its suburbs and other areas took on water draining from other hard-hit neighbourhoods.

A makeshift shelter set up at a large film studio complex in East Baton Rouge Parish was among the largest, estimated to hold 2,000-plus evacuees.

Over the weekend and into Monday, residents whose homes were high and dry sought to help out, delivering supplies to shelters and other designated sites. People cooked pounds of red beans and rice and jambalaya to feed evacuees. Others took the stranded and temporarily homeless into their own houses.

In one dramatic rescue over the weekend, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car almost completely underwater in Baton Rouge, according to a video by WAFB.

The woman, who is not initially visible on camera, yells from inside the car: “Oh my god, I’m drowning.”

One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety. She pleads with Mr Phung to get her dog, but he can not find it. After several seconds, Mr Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces - with the small dog.