HATTIESBURG, Miss. — As the Leaf River rose north of Hattiesburg, Miss., 26-year-old Rebecca Bruce and her fiancé grabbed what they could and left the shed where they live. The water was more than 2 feet deep indoors when they left, she said.
“We lost everything,” Bruce said Saturday. “I’ve got a book bag full of dirty clothes, and I was lucky to get that.”
Bruce was among about 20 people in a Red Cross shelter in the Forrest County Community Center on Saturday, as creeks and rivers continued to rise after torrential rains pounded the Deep South.
Downpours — part of a system affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama — submerged roads and cars, washed out bridges and forced residents to flee.
At least three people have died in Louisiana alone. Mississippi officials were still looking for two missing fishermen, but had no reports of injuries or deaths, said Lee Smithson, head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
He said Mississippi is dealing with the most widespread flooding since Hurricane Isaac dumped more than 2 feet of rain throughout the state.
However, he said, “It has not been quite as rough a day as we thought it was going to be today. … It looks as if the significant rainstorms for the Mississippi Gulf Coast have not materialized.”
Officials had been afraid that as many as 1,000 homes might flood in Forrest County, where the Leaf River is expected to crest Sunday at 29½ feet. But on Saturday, Smithson said, the number likely to be affected was looking more like 100 to 150. About 75 raised fishing camps in Pearl River County, across from Slidell, were likely to be surrounded by water, he said.
