Anyone traveling on I10 in this area .. beware. The river is still rising. http://www.click2houston.com/news/states-consider-closing-i-10-near-border-of-texas-and-louisiana **edit title doesn't work.
My tablet was blowing up with constant updates about this earlier. I had to turn the volume off, so I could sleep. I first shared the story on Facebook yesterday, with a friend who lives in Texas, but has a lot of business contacts, and also family, in Louisiana. It seems the situation is still ongoing, and appears to be getting even worse, since the river appears to be swollen, and flooding nearby areas. Flooding of low lying areas isn't uncommon, but this does seem to be worse than the usual situation, and I sure hope everyone stays away from the area. It seems we always have at least a few people drowning here in the Houston area each year, when they drive into water over the roads thinking it's shallow. It seems many aren't aware of how quickly the situation can deteriorate, and how little water is needed to sweep a vehicle away, or swamp it and trap people inside.
Hard to imagine what is happening over there .... heard on some newscast that the Sabine is flowing faster than Niagara Falls .. and for several days to come.
Is the area supposed to get more rain? Hope not. We tend to flood very quickly in Fresno, mainly intersections etc. and sometimes you just can't tell how deep the water is. Here they hit you all of a sudden, you're driving along and then wow, it's flooded. Smart thing is not go go thru but Many do and end up in trouble or dead.
Not raining there now, but they released water from a Reservoir north of there after the previous storms that were flooding large areas. Now they are talking about closing the I10 border between Louisiana and Mississippi too.
Here are a couple of videos showing the area. One's a drone video https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153317894096604 (drone - I-10 at 16th in Orange) and the other is apparently a helicopter training video, of I-10 from Louisiana to Orange, TX: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1005102062897485
More than you ever wanted to know: .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_River_(Texas–Louisiana) It's at sea level throughout the area.
Thankfully, it's fairly dry where I am. I'm West of that area. I know people in the area are used to flooding for the most part, but that can also be dangerous, because some can become complacent. That's what caused some deaths and injuries during Hurricane Ike, because people didn't recognize the severity of the situation. I hope those in the flood areas have taken and continue to take all necessary precautions.