'This is a nightmare': 4th extreme weather event within a year wears on residents

Residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana, are now picking up the pieces from a fourth significant weather event in less than a year.

Blue tarps still cover a handful of damaged roofs in the area after hurricanes Laura and Delta, which were followed by a deep freeze in February that froze pipes and caused drinking water concerns. Then on Monday, a slow-moving storm passing over Louisiana dumped over a foot of rain in just a few hours.

About 12 to 15 inches of rainfall fell over south Lake Charles within a 12-hour period with other areas of the parish seeing 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

The Lake Charles Regional Airport recorded 12.49 inches of rainfall on Monday, surpassing the last daily record of 3 inches, set back in 1914. The average amount of rainfall for the airport during the month of May is only 5.2 inches.

Buildings in Lake Charles, Louisiana, still bear the marks of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. (AccuWeather / Kim Leoffler)

At least five fatalities have been attributed to this storm as of Wednesday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health after the intense storm flooded roadways and knocked out power. Four of these deaths were associated with a flooded vehicle or a crash into a flooded area, and the fifth was a man who died as a result of oxygen failure due to a power outage caused by the storm.

A "nightmare" is how Lake Charles resident Alexis Wilson described the scene from her front door Monday after floodwaters from the overwhelmed Contraband Bayou rose to the front steps of her home and breached her garage. Her two cars were both damaged and marked as "a total loss."

Floodwaters reached the front steps of Alexis Wilson's home on Monday as a slow-moving storm drenched Lake Charles, Louisiana. (AccuWeather / Kim Leoffler)

"I've never seen anything like this, and I watched (Hurricane) Ike from that bridge over there," Wilson told AccuWeather National Weather Reporter Kim Leoffler.

At the Contraband Bayou, rainfall totals measured higher than the airport reports, totaling 15.07 inches in the area.

Lake Charles resident Don Dixon told The Associated Press that on Lake Street, the scene was like a raging river.

"Water came up about 6 inches from going into my house," he told the AP. "It got pretty close. I was very, very lucky."

Highwater rescue crews responded to more than 300 calls in East Baton Rouge overnight, and more than 250 people were brought to higher ground, according to the Baton Rouge Fire Department, The Advocate reported. Fire spokesman Curt Monte told the news outlet that the calls were from a mix of people who had been trapped in cars and people who needed to be rescued from homes and apartments that were taking on water.

Giovanna Rocha and her husband spent the day Tuesday ripping up parts of their walls and floors after several inches of floodwaters had seeped in, damaging their home.

Several inches of water had flooded Giovanna Rocha's home on Monday after drenching rainfall hit Lake Charles, Louisiana. (AccuWeather / Kim Leoffler)

Rocha had been at work when the water began to rise, so her husband braved the floodwaters to rescue their dogs from the flooded home.

"They were just like lying in the water, cold and shivering and he had to grab them and walk out," Rocha told Leoffler. "He had to park at Best Buy and walk in water up to his bellybutton to get to the house."

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter estimated that 400 to 500 structures flooded during Monday's downpours during a news conference on Tuesday, also noting that the event was the third-heaviest rainfall in one day in the city's history.

The single wettest day on record for Lake Charles was June 19, 1947, which saw 15.79 inches of rainfall, followed by May 16, 1980, which saw 15.67 inches.

"Monday's rainfall alone would make the top five list for wettest May ever," AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Travis said. "When you include the rest of the month, this May through Tuesday is the third-wettest ever."

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, periods of heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to continue across southwestern Louisiana through Thursday. Travis noted that it's not out of the question for Lake Charles to pick up another couple of inches of rain before the weather pattern changes, and warned that flooding may outlast the rainfall.

"Even though the waves of heavy rain and downpours are forecast to come to an end by late Thursday, river flooding in the region is likely to persist even into next week," Travis said. "The Calcasieu River at White Oak Park in the Lake Charles area is currently forecast to be at major flood stage until at least early Monday."

Reporting by Kim Leoffler

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