As many as 14 million people from the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans, and as far north as Memphis, Tennessee, were under a flood watch Thursday after Hurricane Francine slammed into the Louisiana coast and cut a soggy swath across the nation’s midsection.
The weakening but still potent storm was forecast to dump up to 10 inches of rain on parts of Alabama and Florida, and the National Hurricane Center warned there could be scattered flash flooding across major Southern cities such as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis and even Atlanta.
“Heavy rain is expected to continue through at least this afternoon, so please continue to stay weather aware,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on his X social media account.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was touring the hardest-hit areas across his state, while officials in New Orleans urged residents to conserve drinking water.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. But tornado watches were also in effect across Alabama and northern Florida through Thursday afternoon, while more than 50,000 customers across the region were without power and local officials began to assess the damage.
In New Orleans, the din of portable generators was the soundtrack across much of the city as entire neighborhoods lost power, and streets were blocked by debris and downed oak and cypress trees.
Amid the mayhem, stories began to emerge of ordinary people performing extraordinary exploits to save their neighbors from harm.
A good Samaritan named Miles Crawford smashed a window to rescue a driver from a fully submerged pickup truck that was caught in the floodwaters Wednesday evening beneath the Canal Street underpass, WDSU, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans, reported.
Crawford said he sprang into action after WDSU reporter Jonah Gilmore, who was doing a live shot in the area, spotted the submerged pickup and flagged down a nearby police officer.
“I’m a nurse, so got to save lives, right?” Crawford, who works at the University Medical Center, told The Associated Press.
Packing 100 mph winds, Francine roared ashore in Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal section of Louisiana that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.
Moving at a fast clip, Francine barreled into New Orleans, pounding the hard-pressed city with torrential rains and tearing the roofs off hundreds of buildings. The low-lying city was quickly deluged, with 7.33 inches of rain reported at New Orleans International Airport.
In the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, some 100 homes were swamped by rainwater. While over in nearby Metairie, floodwaters turned local streets into impassable canals.
“Now is not the time to be out on the roads,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng warned on X in the midst of the storm. “All residents are urged to stay home.”
