ST. AMANT, La. (AP) – Louisiana continues to dig itself out from devastating floods, with search parties going door to door looking for survivors or bodies trapped by flooding so powerful in some cases it disturbed the dead and sent caskets floating from cemeteries.
At least 13 people died in the flooding that swept through parts of southern Louisiana after torrential rains lashed the region. As the waters have slowly receded in many areas, the hard work of rebuilding lives is just ramping up, with people cleaning out their homes while others struggle to find a place to stay.
In a uniquely Louisiana problem, some families are also trying to rebury family members whose caskets were unearthed by the floods.
At the Plainview Cemetery in Denham Springs, relatives gathered to see what had become of their plots, only to find a chaotic mess with some vaults overturned and in other cases only empty outlines of graves remaining.
“This is bad, it’s just bad. You can’t even come to see people. You don’t know where they’re at,” said Ravonte Thomas, whose relative’s casket was missing.