BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Although some parts of Louisiana are starting to recover from devastating flooding, other areas downstream are still preparing for high water.
Authorities in St. James parish are asking for volunteers to fill sandbags at seven locations.
Louisiana's governor says at least 40,000 homes were damaged by the flooding, which left at least eight people dead.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a news conference Tuesday that the state is entering a recovery phase while also continuing search and rescue missions in other places. He says well over 20,000 people have been rescued. More than 8,000 are staying in shelters, but that number is fluctuating as people arrive and leave the shelters.
Edwards spoke after meeting with FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. The head of FEMA says the agency understands that the state is suffering through a "very large disaster" even though it might not be getting a lot of attention in the news.
