Survivor of deadly Louisiana storms describes narrow escape with her kids: "Everything is gone"
Lightning lit up the skies above Louisiana and Texas Tuesday night. Heavy wind and pouring rain caused deadly conditions on the ground, including flash flooding.
Hundreds of people in Louisiana had to be rescued from the rising water, and the worst may not be over.
"It was terrifying," one survivor told CBS News' Janet Shamlian.
Baton Rouge saw flash flooding as storms that ripped through the region turned some interstates into rivers.
One woman was able to get her children and a few belongings out of her first-floor apartment as it filled with water up to her chest.
"Everything is gone. Everything," she said.
Abandoned cars lined the submerged streets of empty neighborhoods — entirely underwater.
CBS News obtained video of two good Samaritans stopping a motorist about to drive in high water, shouting "No, don't do it!"
Officials also confirmed one person died inside a pile of cars caught in the flooding.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency as areas like Lake Charles — still recovering from Hurricanes Laura and Delta last year — were overwhelmed by more than a foot of rain.
"It was just a couple of weeks ago that President Biden was in Lake Charles to discuss infrastructure and hurricane recovery," Bel Edwards said at a press conference. "Here we are with another natural disaster."