Historic Flooding Hits SETX and Louisiana

Southeast Texas and Louisiana were struck by historic floods last week. The Sabine River swelled with water released from the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The water is slowly receding, but there has been a significant amount of damage done.

The river reached a high of 35 and a half feet when it peaked on Tuesday, The National Weather Service reported. The water was higher than it has ever been, expanding seven feet higher than it did in the flood of 2001.  More than 400 homes were filled with flood water in Newton and the surrounding counties. Over 18 inches of rain fell in the Sabine River Basin, because of the system that remained over the area for five days.

There are many efforts being made by volunteer groups in order to help those devastated by the flood. There are many groups who have come together to raise money for those who were forced out of their homes, and those whose homes were ruined by the flood waters. The American Red Cross is pairing with a local news station and they are going to open two locations where people can donate cash for these victims. On Thursday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 12News Studios and Market Basket on Phelan will be collecting donations.

KBMT reached out to Deweyville Superintendent Kevin Clark to talk about how this natural disaster has affected Deweyville schools. Clark said that the district is giving the families who stayed several weeks to recover. He continued to say, “Education at this point has been low on the totem pole when it comes to their basic needs.”

Deweyville schools have cancelled classes for this week and the near future. They will reopen for classes in April. The only other school affected in the area was West Orange-Stark, which resumed on Tuesday.

FEMA has set up a base at the Orange County Emergency Command Center. They are working on helping residents of the affected counties. FEMA requests that people take photos of the damage done so that they can help. For assistance, victims can call the official number (800)621-3362 or visit the website DisasterAssistance.gov.