CLINTON- Residents in parts of East Feliciana Parish woke up to flooded homes, cars, and roadways following heavy overnight rain.

Some residents living in low-lying areas of Clinton, like Rileyville, were forced to evacuate by boat. Residents say the water rose by the foot every 30 minutes.

"Oh, it was real fast, like within minutes fast," said Quintina Turner, who woke up to find her neighborhood surrounded by water. "I left and made a loop and got a call that the funeral home had gone under and the water was headed this way."

Some residents, like Turner, got as much as four feet of flood water inside their homes.

People had to act quickly as water rushed into the neighborhood from Highway 10.
As residents scrambled to escape the flood waters, Clinton officials, along with the Zachary Police Department, sprang into action as water forced its way into neighborhoods and over roadways.

"We rescued 75 people, 25 families. We had several elderly that couldn't walk and needed boats to get out," Clinton Police Chief Fredrick Dunn said Sunday.

Mayor Lori Bell was part of the rescue crew. They used a dump truck to go to the low lying area to rescue people.

One of those rescued by boat was 70-year-old Betty George. She said she is at a loss for what to do now that her Mobile Housing Unit from the 2016 is gone and her home is still gutted.

"I just don't know, and I'm too old to be able to relocate. You know how that is. It's do or die," George said.

About a mile up the road, Clinton native Kendrell Green said waking up to his property and home submerged in flood water was a haunting feeling of déjà vu. And with it came
a new wave of hopelessness.

"It was instant depression. Thinking about last year and how some people haven't got into their home... I just don't understand it. We can't get ahead."

For those displaced by the severe weather, the town of Clinton has a shelter open at 11305 Jackson Street Clinton maintenance department.