In Louisiana, the history of rain and flooding flows through the culture. Whether from the skies, the rivers, or the encroaching ocean, the people of the southern half of this subtropical state are pitted in a constant contest against water. Indeed, but for seasonal flooding through geologic history, much of the very land they live on would not exist.
But even for the Bayou State, the deluge that began on August 11th was extraordinary. More than two feet of rain fell in seventy-two hours across a wide band of the state north and west of New Orleans, causing local tributaries to reach flood stages never before recorded. More than sixty thousand homes and businesses were inundated. A sixty-mile stretch of Interstate 12 was shut down, stranding more than a hundred motorists in their cars. In all, more than a hundred thousand residents had to be evacuated out of the flood zone. And unlike the traditional televised countdown that precedes the arrival of hurricanes—complete with B-roll footage of cleared-out store shelves and boarded-up windows—the 2016 flood appeared more or less out of nowhere, a slow-moving low-pressure system conjured seemingly overnight.
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