A deluge in Addis on Thursday morning聽forced multiple businesses to shutter for the day and around 40 people to evacuate from a townhome complex off La. 1 South, carrying the essentials with them as they prepared to take shelter with friends and family members.
After they were driven through knee-deep water to safety in the back of a West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff鈥檚 Office pickup truck, a woman and two children walked along the highway, lugging backpacks and tote bags toward another vehicle. Both kids were still in their pajamas 鈥 unicorns for the girl, 鈥淏luey鈥 cartoons for the boy.
鈥淧oor babies, I hate to see that,鈥 Addis Police Chief Jason Langlois said, watching them go from atop a tan military vehicle the police were using as a high-water rescue truck. 鈥淵ou know they wasn鈥檛 planning on their (spring) break to be like this.鈥
Residents ride in a four wheel drive truck driven by members of the West Baton Rouge Sheriff鈥檚 Department during an evacuation on Chris Drive due to flooding on Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Addis, Louisiana.
The rescue mission started midmorning. Langlois said the water had nowhere to go. Normally, heavy rain drains west to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, he said, but the canal was already high when the downpour started.
鈥淭his is probably the worst I鈥檝e seen it since I鈥檝e been here, and I鈥檝e been here since 2003,鈥 Langlois said.
By noon, some of the water had begun to recede. A handful of families declined to evacuate, instead surveying the scene from their front stoops or wading through the murky water. Langlois estimated the water had reached 4 to 6 inches in the townhomes hit the hardest by the flood.
A West Baton Rouge Sheriff鈥檚 vehicle drives through high waters on Chris Drive to help evacuate residents due to flooding on Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Addis, Louisiana.
The Sheriff鈥檚 Office and the Addis Police Department opened the Addis VFW Hall off Myhand Street to evacuees, but by the afternoon, only one resident had used it. An officer posted at the location said that because the highways were open, those displaced by the flood were more likely to stay with friends and family members.
The flash flood arrived just weeks after voters rejected a renewal of the property tax funding the parish鈥檚 drainage system, which includes 700 miles of canals and ditches.
West Baton Rouge Parish Council Chair Carey Denstel said the parish could have the 鈥済old standard鈥 of drainage infrastructure, but 6 to 9 inches of rain in a few hours will push any system to its limits.
鈥淪ometimes you can鈥檛 do anything about Mother Nature, especially when you get that kind of rainfall in such a short period of time,鈥 Denstel said.
