Good Deeds Shine Amid Chaos for Thousands Stranded on Louisiana Interstate

Eric Chaney
Published: August 15,2016
Floodwaters rushing over parts of Interstate 12 trapped thousands of people and vehicles on the roadway over 70 miles between Baton Rouge and Covington, Louisiana, over the weekend.
"It was horrific," Michael Dunlap, photo editor for the Advocate, told the paper. " There was water almost overtopping the construction barriers in the median of the interstate. Water was just colliding over them in waves. It was scary for a lot of folks."

More than 1,500 people have to be rescued off parts of Interstate 12 during the massive flooding that hit Louisiana over the weekend.
(Screenshot courtesy of Brandon Clement/LSM)

State police and the National Guard moved quickly to begin evacuating stranded motorists using high-water vehicles, WWLTV reports. By Sunday night, everyone had been rescued, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, but with more than 1,500 people to tend to, rescue efforts were slow.
"There are cars and trucks as far as the eye can see," Dominique Dugas of Lafayette, who celebrated her 29th birthday Sunday, told the News Star by phone. "There is a mother who is nursing and some older people who are really struggling. It's breaking my heart to see everyone suffering."
(MORE: Death Toll Rises in Historic Louisiana Flooding; 20,000 Rescued)
Despite the heat, humidity, and a lack of food, water, or information, the people stuck in their cars overnight became a makeshift community, KHOU reports, with "neighbors helping neighbors" with basic needs.
Some truck drivers with allowed mothers and small children to take refuge in their air-conditioned cabins, the station reported, while one opened the back of his produce truck and shared the fruit with those around him. Another driver whipped up a batch of spaghetti and then used a bullhorn to announce it was ready.
"We got together and whoever needed anything we just all chipped in," one of the motorists told KHOU. “Take lemons and make lemonade I guess, right?"
Some of the stranded motorists weren't as content. Many people trapped for more than 24 hours began to feel the effects of the heat and the lack of supplies, and a bathroom.
"It is hot and humid and there is no place for anybody to go," Julie Cobb, who was headed for Destin, Florida,  from her home in Spring, Texas, for a family vacation, told the Advocate.
(MORE: Tracking the Flash Flood Threat From Texas to the Great Lakes)
A Blackhawk helicopter deployed at 11 a.m. on Sunday to make supply drops throughout the day, the Hammond Daily Star reported.
Cobb told the Advocate that food was dropped from helicopters, including meals ready to eat, or MREs, but there was no organized distribution.
"Everybody just takes off with it," Cobb said. "People are not prepared for this situation, You just don't realize what is going on."
A nearby convenience store allowed five people in at a time, the Advocate reports, and a church allowed the marooned access to a single bathroom, but the mass of people made access to both difficult.

Rescue crew members arrived were amazed at what they encountered when they arrived at the scene, WBRZ reports. 

"It almost brings tears to your eyes," said Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller. "The idea that they were happy to just be getting water and some basic supplies."