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The reflection of the house of Leslie and Carolyn Harness can be seen in the floodwaters where the house once stood. Friday’s high water swept the house a few feet off its elevated foundation into a neighbor’s yard. Inset below, Joyce Bates talks to her daughter after gathering clothes to bring to the storm shelter in Natchez. “In my 40 years of living in Crosby, I’ve never seen a flood like this,” Bates said.

From left, Anderson, Davis and Monroe Granger look at a vehicle sitting on the edge of the creek near Granger’s residence Saturday in Crosby. Granger said the current of floodwaters moved the car from the street and into his yard Friday.

Fannie Davis and her granddaughter, Jymerial Anderson, 10, look at the creek by their home after Friday’s flooding Saturday in Crosby.

Fannie Davis walks back from looking at the flooded creek near her home Saturday in Crosby. "Once that water starts, (there) ain't no way out," Davis said. "I can't sleep when it storms. We always have to be on guard."

Jymerial Anderson, 10, looks down at the asphalt that was carried by Friday's flood in Crosby.

Joyce Bates sorts through wet clothes trying to find items she can pack to bring to the Natchez storm shelter, where she is staying until floodwaters recede and she is able to return home.

Joseph Hall shines a light on his kitchen cabinets Saturday, to show where water flooded in his home.

Joesph Hall's kitchen floor was left covered in mud Saturday after Friday's flood in Crosby.

Joseph Hall walks through his home using a flashlight Saturday in Crosby. "Basically I'm going to have to try to start over again, " Hall said. Hall has lived in his home for 20 years and said he doesn't think his house can be repaired after the water damage from Friday's flood.

CROSBY — When swelling floodwaters rushed too fast for Keithen Bateaste to continue using his boat to rescue people from their flooding homes in Crosby, Bateaste did not abandon his neighbors.

Bateaste and his father, former Crosby Mayor James Bateaste, had been using Bateaste’s bass boat to get residents to safety Friday after a storm system moved through the region, dumping heavy rain and causing what some are calling historic floods.

“We were using the boat, and it’s got a motor on it, but I didn’t have time to go home and get the key, so we were just using what we had,” Bateaste said. “I didn’t want to go home to get the key, and something happen to someone. But the current got real rough, and I didn’t want to chance it with the boat … so I went and got my 18-wheeler.”

Bateaste, who owns a trucking company with his father, took the trailer of one of their 18-wheeler trucks and drove it through the high waters. Bateaste and others tied a rope to the front of the 18-wheeler, waded into the water to get people and brought them to safety using the rope.

“The truck seemed like the only thing heavy enough that it wouldn’t get swept away,” Bateaste said. “People’s cars were all up in the woods. My sister, they lost all their four-wheelers, and the water was ripping gas tanks from people’s houses just spewing gas everywhere.”

While Bateaste’s account of escaping the floodwaters may seem harrowing to some, it’s not an entirely new experience for the people of Crosby.

“When my dad was mayor, I always helped him do it,” Bateaste said. “The creek stops up and it overflows, and the drainage system around here, it ain’t the best either. That has a lot to do with it, too.”

But 43-year-old Bateaste said he nor his father had ever seen water as high as they did Friday.

Bateaste was one of dozens of people staying at the storm shelter on the campus of Natchez High School until they can return to their homes.

The National Weather Service in Slidell reported Saturday afternoon a cumulative 14.17 inches of rain in Gloster and 9.5 inches in Woodville in Wilkinson County and 8.5 inches of rain in Liberty in Amite County had fallen over the last 48 hours.

“I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen water this high in Crosby,” Bateaste said. “I never thought I would see a house get swept off its foundation, but I saw it. It’s a big house. I still can’t believe that.”

It was Twanna Cage’s parents’ house that was swept off its elevated foundation and moved partially in a vacant lot and a neighbor’s yard.

Cage and her parents, Leslie and Carolyn Harness, live in Dallas now, but come home often to Crosby.

“I called my best friend just to check on her, and she said, ‘I was just about to call you and tell you the house has slipped off the foundation.’ I thought she meant maybe it had just titled or something, not that the whole house had moved. But it did. I just really couldn’t believe it.”

Cage said when the house was built, her father had it built on an elevated foundation so it would be safer from floodwaters.

“We’ve had floods before, but we never saw anything like this.”

Cage and her parents had planned to return to Crosby this weekend to assess the damage to the house, but friends warned them that rain was still falling so they have delayed their trip.

Fannie Davis, 63, lives on M Street close to the creek that runs through Crosby, and said initially, it wasn’t that high. But the creek quickly rose, forcing her from her house as it rose to the threshold of her front door.

“The mayor drove me back so I could move my car, and I had to hurry up and get out there,” she said. “I didn’t even have time to get any clothes, but I had some clothes in my car from the last time we had to evacuate, so I grabbed those.”

The creek near Davis’ house is filled by tree limbs, she said, from a logging operation as well as trash and other debris that causes it to back up. The town has applied for a grant to clean the creek, but has not received word yet on the funding.

Davis was born in Crosby and has lived for a decade in her current house. She’s also never seen the water as high as it was when she evacuated. She’s staying now with her 91-year-old mother.

“If it wasn’t for my mom, I would just pack up and leave,” Davis said. “It’s so scary. The water comes so fast and so strong.”

Davis said she is not sure what she will return to when she’s allowed to go home.

“I’m praying, I’m really praying water didn’t come into the house,” she said. “But I know there’s going to be damage. But there’s people who lost a lot.”

Wilkinson County’s Emergency Management Director Thomas Tolliver Jr. said flooding affected nearly all of the 342 residents who live in Crosby.

Tolliver said Saturday the water has started to recede and those living in Crosby will be allowed back in by today to assess the damage. He said most of the buildings in Crosby sustained water damage.

Across the region, floodwaters inundated Baton Rouge and other areas of Louisiana. At least 2,000 people in Louisiana had to be rescued, and at least three people have died in what officials called historic flooding.

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