Storm dumps rain over South, sparks flooding, evacuations

(AP) — Cars were submerged by water, residents forced to flee their homes with housecats and birds in tow, and the Louisiana National Guard and others rescued people by boat and in big military trucks as torrential rains Wednesday drenched parts of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas with nearly a foot of rain.

Sharon Anderson, her three children and four grandchildren were rescued from her south Bossier Parish mobile home after rising water threatened to trap them.

[...] the steps on my back porch are under water and if you walk down the driveway, it's over the knee.

Louisiana State Police closed a section of Interstate 20 near Gibsland after both the eastbound and westbound lanes were covered with a foot of water, making the road impassible.

Over southeast Louisiana, including the New Orleans metro area, forecasters say the slow-moving low pressure system is expected to bring a few rounds of heavy rainfall beginning Thursday morning and continue through early Saturday.

A tornado struck a mobile home park in the North Texas town of Tolar on Monday morning, smashing some homes and injuring two people after two other tornadoes late Sunday injured two people in the North Texas towns of Stephenville and Cool.