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ByMichaelKunzelman and Melinda Deslatte The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, LA. Thou- sands of people in south- ern Louisiana hunkered down in shelters Monday, forced out of their homes by intense flooding that took many people by surprise. The weather had im- proved from the torrential downpours, but rivers and creeks in many areas were still way above flood stage, and people downstream eyed the deluge with con- cern. Across southern Louisi- ana, residents scrambled to get to safety as heavy rain in some areas came close to 2 feet over a 48-hour period. Rescuers evacuated more than 20,000 people since the flooding started Fri- day and more than 10,000 people were in shelters as of late Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. At least six people were killed. "Everybody got caught off-guard," said Anthony "Ace" Cox, who started a Facebook group to help collect information about where people were stranded. "It was an abso- lute act of God. We're talk- ing about places that have literally never flooded be- fore." Cox lives in New Orleans but his parents live in Cen- tral, a town hit hard by the rising water. His parents evacuated to his grandpar- ents' house in Baton Rouge, but that area started taking on water so they evacuated again to a hotel in Baton Rouge. He is worried his parent's home may not be habitable for months. Meteorologist Ken Graham of the National Weather Service said cat- astrophic rains are "ex- tremely tough" to forecast. Forecasts Thursday were for 8 inches of rain with higher totals expected in some areas but again, Gra- ham emphasized that fore- casting exactly how much rain is going to fall is nearly impossible — "especially for a historic event." "It's one thing to say we're getting set up for a lot of rain. It's another thing to say where is this going to be," Graham said. Some areas such as the town of Zachary received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. An- other hard hit area — Liv- ingston — received nearly 22 inches of rain over the same stretch. National Guard sol- diers in high-water vehi- cles, boats and helicopters helped rescue people, as did Good Samaritans. Jared Serigne of St. Ber- nard Parish helped orga- nize volunteer efforts in- volving roughly 70 experi- enced boaters who rescued hundreds of people from flooded communities such as Monticello, St. Amant and Port Vincent. He criticized the govern- ment's response, saying of- ficials were slow clear road- ways and to provide access to potential boat launch points that could be used by volunteers. "You've got all of these people who hunt and fish who have more experience than the average first-re- sponder," said Serigne, a TV producer of an outdoors show and marketing direc- tor for marine equipment business. The Louisiana State Po- lice started allowing peo- ple to reclaim cars left be- hind on a portion of Inter- state 12 that had to be shut down because of the flood- ing. Motorists had in some instances been stranded overnight awaiting rescue. Vehicles that were out of gas, stalled or unclaimed were being towed Monday to the shoulder to help clear the interstate. From the air, homes looked more like little is- lands surrounded by flooded fields. Streets de- scended into impassable pools of water and shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peek- ing above the water. From the ground it was just as bad. The slow-moving, low- pressure system moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that there's still a danger of more rain and fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain to- ward the Gulf of Mexico. RiversintheBatonRouge area have started to fall, but still remained above flood stage after setting record levels over the weekend, the National Weather Ser- vice said Monday. "The rivers and streams north of Interstate 12 have crested and have started to drop, while those south of the interstate continue to rise," meteorologist Mike Efferson said. Adding insult to injury, it started raining in Baton Rouge again Monday and the city could see up to a half-inch of precipitation. The Comite River just east of Baton Rouge dropped nearly 2 feet by Monday from the 34-feet over the weekend. Flood stage is 20 feet. The Amite River at Denham Springs was at 43.5 feet Monday af- ter reaching 46.2 feet. Flood stage is 29 feet. The federal government declared a major disaster, specifically in the parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Liv- ingston. 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