Three people are dead in Louisiana flooding described by the state's governor as "historic," and that number would easily have been four but for the heroic actions of three men aboard a boat. As WAFB reports, the men came upon a car sinking in the floodwaters Saturday, with a woman trapped inside. "Oh my God, I'm drowning," she says, as the men scramble for a knife to cut open the vehicle's cloth roof. They then try and fail to bash open a window, and as the car goes under, one man—identified by the AP as David Phung—jumps into the water and manages to pull the woman from the vehicle. But rather than thank him, she tells Phung to get her dog, trapped inside. Told that the dog is probably gone, the woman responds, "No, she better not be." The Good Samaritan then produces the dog.
The rescue is one of more than 2,000 that have been made of residents and motorists plucked from homes and vehicles caught in the deluge, reports the AP. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency, called the flooding "unprecedented,"—and himself had to flee the Governor's Mansion as waters flooded the basement and cut off electricity. "That's never happened before," he said from a state police facility, where he asked people to stay put. "I'm still asking people to be patient. Don't get out and sightsee," Edwards said. "Even when the weather is better, it's not safe." At least one person is missing. (More flooding stories.)
