Louisiana: 3 dead, 1,000 evacuated after 3 months of rain

Torrential rain and floods ravaging Louisiana have killed at least three people and forced more than 1,000 from their homes. Almost a foot of rain fell on Louisiana overnight on Friday - the kind of deluge which has a likelihood of occurring once every 500 years.

It was equivalent to around three months' worth of rainfall during hurricane season and up to another two feet is expected to fall on Saturday.

Soldiers on boats and helicopters plucked people from the roofs of their homes and cars as 'unprecedented' weather continues to pound the state.

Floodwaters in Walker, Louisiana, unearthed caskets from the beneath the ground in St Marks Cemetery and sent them floating to the water surface.

Residents of Baker, near Baton Rouge, were rescued by boats or waded through waist-deep, snake-infested water to reach dry ground.

Dozens of them awoke Saturday morning on cots at a makeshift Red Cross shelter only a few blocks from their flooded homes and cars.

Shanita Angrum, 32, said she called 911 on Friday morning when she realized flood waters had trapped her family in their home.

A police officer carried her six-year-old daughter Khoie on his back while she and her husband waded behind them for what 'felt like forever'.

She said: 'Snakes were everywhere. The whole time I was just praying for God to make sure me and my family were okay.'

Angrum said her family probably lost most of their possessions, including two cars and the new school clothes she purchased for her daughter.

Seven highways are already underwater - cutting off access to Baton Rouge - and a slow moving storm is expected to dump even more rain in the area, governor John Edwards warned.

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