Emergency workers in Louisiana have rescued more than 7,000 residents stranded in homes and cars during flooding, Governor John Bel Edwards said today.
Rescue crews worked through the night as deadly flooding that has left at least three people dead and one missing continued to submerge large parts of the region today, three days after water-swelled streams and rivers began rising.
"This is a serious event," Mr Edwards said of the record floods he called "historic" yesterday.
"This is ongoing," he added. "This is not over," even with the rains lessening as they move west.
Local, state and national agencies have been working together to rescue residents.
Among them, thousands were evacuated in Livingston Parish, near the capital Baton Rouge, the sheriff's department told local media, with 100 people still waiting for help today.
The Louisiana National Guard said in a statement that it had rescued nearly 500 people, including 15 rescues by air.
The Coast Guard said its helicopters rescued more than 50 people from rooftops, vehicles and trailers yesterday.
In one dramatic rescue in Baton Rouge captured on video (below), rescuers on a boat pulled a woman from a car that had just slipped under water.
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A rescuer jumped into the murky brown water and pulled her out by the arm. He then went back underwater to rescue her dog.
Most of the flooding has been around the capital Baton Rouge.
Mr Edwards said he and his family were forced to leave the governor's mansion after water filled the basement, shutting off electricity.
The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings today extending from the Texas coast to the Ohio River Valley.
"Showers and thunderstorms will develop along and near the front from the Northeast to the Ohio Valley to the Southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley through Tuesday," it said in a statement.
The heavy rains began on Friday, with between 6 and 10 inches (15 to 25 cms) of rain falling on parts of southeast Louisiana, and several more inches yesterday, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters predict the storm will turn north today, saying parts of central and northern Louisiana and southern Texas may see heavy rain for several days.
