Millions of people are at risk of flooding as Hurricane Francine weakens and moves inland

Up to 14 million people from the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans and further north to Memphis, Tennessee, were under flood warnings on Thursday after Hurricane Francine hit the Louisiana coast and cut a wet swath across the middle of the country.

The weakening but still strong storm was forecast to dump up to 10 inches of rain on parts of Alabama and Florida, and the National Hurricane Center warned that isolated flash flooding could occur in major southern cities such as Jackson, Mississippi, Birmingham, Alabama, Memphis and even Atlanta.

“Heavy rain is expected to continue at least through this afternoon, so please continue to monitor the weather,” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves posted on his social media account X.

Meanwhile, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry toured the worst-hit areas of his state, while officials in New Orleans urged residents to conserve drinking water.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but tornado warnings remained in effect in Alabama and northern Florida until Thursday afternoon, while more than 50,000 homes across the region were without power and local authorities began assessing the damage.

In New Orleans, the noise of portable generators could be heard across much of the city, while entire neighborhoods were without power and streets were blocked by debris and fallen oak and cypress trees.

Amidst the chaos, stories emerged of ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of heroism to save their fellow human beings.

A Good Samaritan named Miles Crawford broke a window to rescue the driver of a completely submerged pickup truck that became stuck in floodwaters beneath the Canal Street underpass on Wednesday night, reported WDSU, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans.

Crawford said he immediately sprang into action after WDSU reporter Jonah Gilmore, who was doing live footage in the area, spotted the submerged pickup truck and flagged down a police officer standing nearby.

“I’m a nurse, so I have to save lives, right?” Crawford, who works at University Medical Center, told the Associated Press.

With winds of 100 mph (160 km/h), Francine raged along the coast of Terrebonne Parish, devastating a sensitive stretch of Louisiana coast that has yet to fully recover from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.

Francine barreled into New Orleans at high speed, dumping torrential rain on the stricken city and ripping the roofs off hundreds of buildings. The low-lying city was quickly flooded, with 7.3 inches (18.5 cm) of rain reported at New Orleans International Airport.

In the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, around 100 houses were flooded by rainwater. And in nearby Metairie, the floods turned the streets into impassable canals.

“Now is not the time to hit the streets,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng warned on X in the midst of the storm. “All residents are urged to stay home.”

In Lafourche Parish in southern Louisiana, 26 people trapped in rising floodwaters were rescued, local authorities said.