BATON ROUGE, La. — A man was reportedly found dead in one of several flooded and abandoned cars piled up in an underpass near the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning.
WBRZ-TV reports the man’s body was found inside a car on Bluebonnet Boulevard. The East Baton Rouge Sherriff's Office spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks told The Advocate that the body was discovered around 10:20 a.m. Authorities did not identify the man, but Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was 33 years old.
A pile of cars remained under the underpass as of midday Tuesday.
Edwards said there were at least two other deaths in the Baton Rouge area possibly related to the storm. WBRZ reports another man died in nearby Port Allen when the vehicle he was in drove off the road and became submerged in a canal along LA 415.
A line of storms with torrential rain pummeled south Louisiana overnight, dropping up to 13 inches of rain in parts of Baton Rouge. Multiple road closures and high water rescues were ongoing Tuesday morning. Local media outlets report more than 250 water-related rescues were made in East Baton Rouge Parish alone overnight for people trapped in flooded cars or needing rescue from homes taking on water.
Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and other officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads until the severe weather threat is over.
Much of south Louisiana got a break in the rain midday Tuesday, but additional storms are possible later in the afternoon to evening.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.