What's In The Flood Water?

As the waters rise more homes are in danger of flooding and that means more homeowners heading back inside to find out what damage was left behind.

Before you go wading, you may want to think about what is in the water.

"If it was up to my waist, I wouldn't be wading in it at all" says David Rogers. But more people are wading in water as they try to get back into flooded home. A danger Rogers knows all to well. He used to live on Lake Bistineau. "Just a few inches of water and current can knock you off your feet. And if you get knocked off your feet and happen to go into a ditch where the current's even stronger the possibilities of getting out are really not good" he says.

That puts you in jeopardy for drowning, electrocution or disease.

"You have foriegn debris in there, you have things like boards with nails on them and even twigs and sticks and things like that can penetrate your foot. It can be very dangerous. You can be putting yourself not only at risk of death, but serious injury at the very least" says Michelle Davison with the American Red Cross.

The high water maybe bad for people in low lying areas but it's good for one group, the fish.

Lousisana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Biologist Kevin Houston says "The fish are able to get up in the shallow water areas and feed on insects and worms and other critters that are moving up in the grass."

And that means good fishing for people like Michael Evans. "I just got out here about 15 minutes ago. I just caught about a three pound catfish. So that's good" he says.

Once water recedes, there is also the danger of critters like snakes, alligators, and water mocassions that may have stayed on land instead of going back with the water.