22 Flooded Public Schools Can't Reopen Next Week in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Latest on flooding in southern Louisiana (all times local):
Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White says 22 of the state's public schools were so heavily damaged by flooding that they can't be opened by next week.
White says the schools are spread across East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension and Vermilion parishes in southern areas of the state hit hard by catastrophic flooding.
Many other schools, he said, took on water but are dry now and can be used for student instruction.
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Authorities in hard-hit East Baton Rouge Parish say they have compiled an "inundation map" showing 58 percent of the parish, which includes the Louisiana capital city of Baton Rouge, was flooded.
Data used to compile the map included details on emergency calls as well as early damage assessments in some areas. The map was produced as authorities continue to asses flood damage across much of south Louisiana.
Meanwhile, an economic development agency, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, released a report Friday on potential damage in nine of the 20 parishes declared disaster areas because of flooding.
It shows 110,000 homes were in flood-affected sections if the Baton Rouge metro area, although it's not yet certain that all of them flooded. The area also includes 7,300 businesses employing nearly 74,000 people