Governor John Bel Edwards says heavy rainfall and flooding has caused three fatalities in Louisiana. Emelie Gunn has more…
Jason Hansford, with the National Weather Service, says rainfall totals in Louisiana range from 11 to over 20 inches. Hansford says the state could see up to 5 more inches of rain, but he says this massive storm should clear out by this weekend.
DeSoto Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle says several emergency shelters have been set up throughout the parish as evacuations are ongoing. He says countless homes in the parish have flooded.
Arbuckle says the Sabine River in DeSoto is rising to a dangerously high level, and people near the river are being evacuated.
Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and one of his top lieutenants have been indicted on civil rights violations for their alleged involvement in the beatings of five jail inmates. The indictment claims Ackal directed officers to beat the inmates in the jail’s chapel in 2011. Former US attorney Harry Rosenberg says there have already been an array of civil lawsuits filed against the sheriff’s by inmates that are pending, but this federal suit will be different.
Eight former employees of the sheriff’s office have already pleaded guilty to related federal charges.