Arthur remnants flood Gulf states, trigger evacuations and rescues

Remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur swept through parts of the southeastern United States with drenching rain, strong wind, and widespread flooding. Louisiana and Mississippi were hit hardest, leaving at least 200 homes flooded in Avoyelles Parish, evacuations u

By Thursday evening along the Gulf Coast, water was no longer something residents watched from a distance—it was something that rushed through homes, turned streets into channels, and forced rescuers to reach people from the air and the water.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur battered parts of the southeastern United States with drenching rains and strong wind on Thursday. tearing through buildings. flooding homes. and prompting water rescues across the region. Though Arthur was the first tropical storm of the Atlantic basin season. it was quickly downgraded within a day of forming. The system still left behind dangerous conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi as it moved through the area.

By Friday. the system was weakening and on track to move out into the Atlantic this weekend—but the threat of flooding did not loosen with it. More than 63 million people were still at risk on Friday. according to CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan. and she said another 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall in some places. including cities like Atlanta. Birmingham. and Jacksonville.

In Mississippi, emergency officials asked residents living near the Jourdan River to consider evacuating. The river remained under a flood warning and was expected to crest Friday morning. In Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a state of emergency after Arthur battered the state.

Flooding incidents have been extensive since the storm began sweeping through the Southeast. Nolan said more than 257 flash flooding incidents were reported since Sunday across a strip of the region stretching from Texas to Georgia. At least four tornadoes also broke out along the Gulf Coast as a result of Arthur’s impacts. part of a broader outbreak of destructive twisters that damaged communities in the Midwest this week.

One of the starkest snapshots of how quickly rain turned into catastrophe came from rural Louisiana. In one rural Louisiana parish. more than 2 feet of rain fell in 48 hours. with most of that soaking coming on Thursday. Donald Jones. a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. said. Two of the week’s highest rainfall totals from the Gulf Coast came from Cottonport and Plaucheville in Louisiana’s Avoyelles Parish. which respectively received 29 and 22.5 inches of rain. according to the weather service. Simmesport, another nearby town, received more than 17 inches of rain.

Jones described it as overwhelming even by local standards: “Even by this region’s standards, that’s catastrophic rain.”

In Avoyelles Parish, that rainfall translated into housing losses on a massive scale. State Rep. Daryl Deshotel said it flooded at least 200 homes in the parish, about 70 miles northwest of the Louisiana state capital.

In Mississippi, the danger was immediate and physical. Life-threatening floods trapped people in a campground in Perkinston, while rescuers used canoe paddles to break through windows of RVs. Cars and mobile homes were washed away. A rain gauge in a town near Perkinston showed upwards of 12 inches of rain fell there on Thursday. and the same amount was recorded by another gauge near Black Creek. about 25 miles north. the weather service said. Some residents told CBS News they barely escaped as water began to rise.

Nicole Jackson and her fiancé, Hayden, said they barely made it out before head-high floodwaters swept through their home in Stone County, Mississippi. Jackson said, “It’s insane how quickly it rose,” adding that “People that lived here a lot longer than us are absolutely shocked.”

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office said a total of roughly 38 people had been rescued by the department as of Thursday night, and no fatalities or serious injuries were reported.

Mississippi’s leadership also reported at least one death tied to storm cleanup. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Thursday night that a worker on a county road crew in the southwestern part of the state had been killed while helping with storm cleanup operations. though the cause of the death was not disclosed.

Even where floodwaters were not yet at their worst, officials moved to prevent new damage. Reeves said thirty homes below the Anchor Lake dam in southern Mississippi were being evacuated as a precaution due to concerns that rising waters could overwhelm the spillways and compromise the structure. Residents were being encouraged to seek higher ground.

Across Louisiana, people described chaos that felt like it came from nowhere. Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma. southwest of New Orleans. while others in the community had worse damage. She said. “It was unbelievable. it literally sounded like hell broke open. ” and added. “I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes.”.

Officials said the National Guard and state wildlife officials were working with rescue crews.

Tornado damage was also part of the storm’s aftermath. The weather service said one tornado was confirmed in Avoyelles Parish, along with three others near New Orleans. In Avondale. just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Jefferson Parish spokeswoman Rachel Strassel said a tornado wrecked four homes. She said two people were hospitalized with minor injuries and later released.

The storm’s flooding also reached into everyday routines in unexpected ways. Amid relentless rainfall in central Louisiana. Cody Coco said he rescued stranded workers—waist deep in water—at a cypress sawmill operation he runs near his home in Avoyelles Parish. He said the water continued to rise all throughout the day. Coco. 40. said he also used a boat to rescue four pigs he kept in a pen. and posted video on Facebook showing the hogs swimming out of their enclosure in a torrent of murky water. Coco said they are now safe on higher ground. He said, “If I’d left them in the pen, they’d have drowned,” adding, “They were happy to see me.”.

In New Orleans, the response shifted quickly from watching to cleaning. Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing relatively minor damage and cleanup efforts. Ahead of the storm. police prepared boats and set up barricades in flood-prone areas. and they opened sandbag distribution sites across Louisiana.

The pattern coming out of this storm—downgraded. then downgraded again. yet still dangerous—has left Gulf communities bracing for more water even as the system weakens. On Friday. evacuations and flood warnings continued to shape what residents could do next. and for many families. the question was no longer whether Arthur would hit. but whether the water would finally give way.

Tropical Storm Arthur remants flooding evacuations Louisiana Mississippi Jourdan River Anchor Lake dam water rescues tornadoes Avoyelles Parish Kenner New Orleans