Flash Flood in Franklin Parish, Louisiana

Persistent heavy rains fell from the bands around weakening Hurricane Gustav. These slow moving bands produced tremendous rainfall amounts across nearly all of Franklin Parish. Rainfall totals ranged between 10 and 20 inches. The heaviest of rains fell during the evening of the 2nd and early morning hours of the 3rd. During this rainfall event some of the highest measured amounts fell in Franklin Parish. Jigger measured 20 inches of rain and Winnsboro measured 17.54 inches.||This extreme rainfall flooded numerous roads across the parish and many of these were closed for several days. Many other roads were washed out along with some bridges damaged or destroyed. Dozens of homes and businesses were flooded. Flood damage was significant in most cases.||Agriculture was very hard hit across the parish as well. Nearly all farm land was flooded at some point with varying levels of standing water from minor to extreme depths. Many areas experienced total losses with some crops while the rest had very low yields. The hardest hit crops were cotton, soybeans, and sweet potatoes.

Tremendous amounts of rain fell across Franklin Parish during the afternoon and evening of October 16th. Eight to fifteen inches of rain fell during this time causing significant flooding across the parish. Two to three hundred homes were flooded along with a large majority of the roads across the parish. Many roads had sections washed out and were impassable. Locals who have lived in the area all their life mentioned they have never seen water like that before.

There was flash flooding on roadways near Wisner. Water occurred in three businesses on Fair Avenue in Winnsboro. There was localized flash flooding over northern portions of the parish, along with some driveways and a road under water.