Samaritan's Purse gives aid during unprecedented Louisiana flooding

BATON ROUGE — Boone-based Samaritan's Purse members are on their way to Baton Rouge where there has been catastrophic flooding.

Members of the non-denominational evangelical Christian International relief organization have to stay outside of Louisiana because of safety concerns. There have been about 20,000 people rescued from the floodwaters and many of the rivers will not crest until Tuesday while rain still falls in the state.

A storm in the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana is hovering off the Louisiana coast bringing 10 inches of rain each day for three days.

That's allowing it to pump astounding amounts of moisture into the area, even more than a typical tropical storm.

This storm has been stuck for days dropping three times the amount of rain than Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"This is a major event," Tim Haas, with Samaritan’s Purse, said.

Haas still isn't even sure how his crew is going to get there, much less handle the situation.

"They are talking about a number of roads that are shut down both north and south of Baton Rouge, Haas said. “The interstate is still closed."

They were just in the area during Memorial Day weekend after another monster storm went through.

Since the area is near sea level, the water has nowhere to go turning roads into surf zones.

"This is not a short-term fix,” Haas said. “Nor do we really totally understand how many folks are impacted."

More rain has fallen in Louisiana in three days than parts of California have seen in five-year and it is more rain than the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport has seen all year.

Cox Media Group