TANGIPAHOA - A few hundred residents of the Town of Tangipahoa who were rescued from their homes on Friday had to make several stops before they finally found a place to stay after double digit rainfall totals drenched the area.

WWL-TV reported the residents said the rain started at nightfall Thursday day and didn’t let up from then on. By Friday morning, roads were starting to be covered by water, but they remain passable. However, by 10 a.m., road closures were starting to stack up and rescue calls started to come in to first responders.

“My house flooded and my house never floods,” said Vanessa Williams, a resident who spoke with WWL-TV.

More than 200 homes would begin to take on water, and many people were in danger of being swept away by the floods as rescued efforts continued. People were evacuated in boats, high-water vehicles and personal trucks.

When families were taken to a couple of nearby churches though, they found the high water was already splashing between the pews. From there, they went to Kentwood High School, but the journey wasn’t over as the power soon went out at the school. The outage resulted when a nearby Entergy substation began to take on water and power had to be re-routed to another sub-station.

By the time dusk was setting in, only a few dozen people were left at the high school as efforts to move the people to another church or a relative’s home were in full force.