LaPlace residents forced from their homes seek refuge - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

Wet and weary, residents from the St. John Parish town of LaPlace continue to make their way to Shreveport after the area started flooding.

About 3,000 people had to be rescued from their homes with authorities using high-water vehicles and boats. As of now no one has been injured.

Throughout the day Thursday, about 1,300 evacuees got off of busses at the old Sam's Club building on Jewella Avenue. The shelter can hold up to 2,400.  Right now the City of Shreveport does not plan to open any more shelters, but are ready to if the state decides to send more evacuees from South Louisiana. 

The special needs medical shelter at the Bossier Civic Center has also opened.  It can hold up to 200 people. Health officials sent people who they thought needed the special medical attention there after they checked them out at the Jewella shelter.

At this time emergency officials do not know how long the evacuees will have to stay there.

One woman making the trip was in tears as she got off the bus to meet her son. She said she had lost everything in the flood.

Still others had to wade through waist-deep water before they were rescued.

Chief Ronald Mulford with the Shreveport Fire Department said evacuees began showing up about 5 a.m. He said the city was called last night about the shelter so they were able to get things in place for a seamless transition.

As evacuees arrive, they're being checked out for any immediate medical problems while also taking care of any personal needs they may have. The shelter is also keeping pets at the site also.

The St. John the Baptist Office of Emergency Preparedness is still actively rescuing people, but said the process is about done. Calls requesting help have dropped dramatically.

Officials are working on a phone number for people to call to check on loved ones.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries sent convoys of boats to help out and St. John asked any civilians with boats to report to a staging area to be deployed into neighborhoods. Civilian boats are no longer needed.

Water is still rising in some neighborhoods and officials are unsure when residents may be able to get back in to assess the damage. No injuries have been reported as of Thursday morning.

Some people had less than an hour to gather up belongings before being put in the back of a truck or boat.

Officials said up to 20 neighborhoods were affected by the rising water.

Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said floodwaters caught everyone by surprise, rising "shockingly" fast as Tropical Storm Isaac pushed water from lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas into parts of LaPlace.

Rising water closed off all main thoroughfares into the parish, which is about 30 miles west of New Orleans. The water is being driven higher by south winds as Isaac passes to the west.

Dardenne added officials are speculating when levees in other parishes along Lake Pontchartrain were fortified after Hurricane Katrina, it forced storm surge into areas that had escaped flooding in past storms.

He said "the water's got to go somewhere, and this is where it went."

With one water district flooded, the National Guard is sending two 5,000-gallon water tankers and 35,000 bottles of water to distribute to residents. State officials are sending 200 one-ton sandbags to protect the water system from floodwater contamination.

 (Copyright KSLA-TV 2012. All Rights Reserved. WAFB-TV & AP contributed to this story)