Flooded Louisiana to assess damage

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) -- More than a third of Louisiana's parishes were under state and local emergencies Monday, left to deal with the flooding and damage caused by the remnants of a tropical storm.

VIDEO National guard rescues victims of flooding in the Houston, Texas area (June 10) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Flooding brings Houston, Texas to a standstill, blamed for one death so far. CNN's Donna Kelley reports (June 9) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH Hurricanes: How they form and tips on preparing for them     RESOURCES CNN weather forecast for Houston, Texas

Federal disaster officials Monday planned to accompany state personnel to the 23 parishes where Gov. Mike Foster issued disaster declarations, said Jim Ballow of the State Office of Emergency Preparedness. They expect to make damage assessments and to determine the shelter needs of the affected residents.

Ballow expected a 24th parish to be declared an emergency by the end of the day. Louisiana has 64 parishes.

About 21 inches of rain fell as the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison passed over the southern part of the state during the weekend. The storm system was continuing on a northeast track Monday, heading into Mississippi and Alabama.

One death was blamed on the storm. Winds blew a tree down on a car, killing its occupant, Ballow said.

About 1,100 homes were flooded in East Baton Rouge alone, and about 1,800 families were evacuated. "That's typical of what's going on in the southern portion of the state," he said.

Emergency workers were sandbagging along rivers and bayous, Ballow said, and authorities were trying to rescue trapped residents and bring them to higher ground.

"We're still in the response mode," he said, "and it will change to the recovery mode when the system moves away."