New York: Torrential rains have caused record flooding in parts of the southern United States, officials said on Saturday, with US media reporting at least three deaths.
Flooding in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi shut down roads, cutting off at least one town as an area of low pressure slowly moved west along the Gulf Coast.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency, calling the flooding "unprecedented."
"We have record levels of flooding along rivers and creeks," he told reporters during a news conference, urging residents who have been advised to evacuate to leave their homes.
Emergency services were transporting residents by high-water vehicles, boats and aircraft, he said. More than 1,000 residents had been evacuated in Louisiana, the authorities said.
The floods killed at least three people on Friday, media reported. Among them, a man in the Louisiana town of Zachary, near the capital Baton Rouge, drowned trying to escape flood waters, local television station WAFB reported.
"We were walking out and he slipped and fell," his roommate Vernon Drummond told the station. "He went under the water. We tried to save him, but we couldn't."
The area recorded 10 to 15 inches (25.4 to 38.1 cm) of rain, David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told AFP. Another 10 inches were expected in parts of Louisiana over the next two days.
"Even for them it's very unusual," Roth said.
Layton Ricks, president of Livingston parish in the Baton Rouge area, told reporters that "we're experiencing one of the worst storm events we've ever had, with flash flooding."
Roads that had never flooded were under water, he said, adding that the backlog of people waiting to be rescued was as long as 150, even after the more than 1,000 rescue operations carried out so far.
The National Weather Service warned of "significant flash flooding" through the weekend as rains move north and west.
"A low- to mid-level cyclone over the Lower Mississippi Valley will slowly begin to lift northward into the Middle Mississippi Valley by Sunday evening into Monday," it said.
Entergy Louisiana said more than 7,500 customers were without power Friday night.
On the East Coast, meanwhile, millions of Americans residents are sweating through a heat wave amid extreme weather warnings in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
The combination of heat and humidity would make it feel as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) in those cities.
Temperatures would stay in the mid-90s from Friday through Sunday, with the humidity pushing heat index values higher in New York and Philadelphia, home to around 10 million people combined, meteorologists said.
The authorities warned of heat-related health problems, especially for the elderly and those with chronic health problems, and for people who work outdoors.
Americans were advised to stay inside and use air conditioning where possible, check on vulnerable friends and neighbors, drink plenty of fluids, and not leave children or pets unattended in vehicles.
Overall, the heat wave stretched from southwest Ohio to western Virginia and Washington, and north through Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the National Weather Service's Roth said.
Forecasters predicted possible record highs in spots stretching from Maryland's Ocean City to Connecticut on Saturday, before the heat fades Sunday and Monday.
AFP
