BAKER — Ten years after the 2016 flood, Baker's mayor and police chief are looking back at the first days of a crisis that forced thousands of residents out of their homes.

Mayor Darnell Waites and Chief Carl Dunn were both sworn into office on July 1, 2016. Just 42 days later, floodwaters overtook the city.

"It rained all day all night into the next day then it stopped raining then the water started backing up," Waites said. "And that's when we realized...we're in trouble."

Dunn said he got the call around 3:30 a.m. that people woke up to see their homes were flooding.

"The water was at their bed and they were totally traumatized," Dunn said. "So I put them in my truck and I'm like, 'Where am I going to take these ladies?' They were screaming, almost going into shock. They were scared and cold."

Dunn said he took them to his house, where his wife was waiting with warm blankets and dry clothes along with a pot of grits and hot biscuits.

"That was the first shelter of the flood of 2016," he said.

Dunn said he conducted more than 400 rescues over several days using his personal boat, escorting people away from their flooded homes and ruined belongings. 

"It seems as though my pump is pumping more tears out of my boat than rain," Dunn said.

At city hall, the auditorium served as a shelter. It housed more than 100 residents at one point, until the building started taking on water coming up from the basement. Baker High School, across the street from the mayor's office, faced the same situation.

"They had a plan but I really had not been here long enough to even take a look at the disaster plan and that plan, after I looked at it later, would not have helped us at all," Waites said.

The mayor said he relied on WBRZ and other media outlets to help get critical information out and reached out to then Congressman Garret Graves and then Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks to help get residents to safety.

"We moved people, dogs, seniors. We moved them. CATS took them to Chauna. She housed them until the water left here," Waites said. "Took three to four days for the water to go down then I went back and got my people."

According to FEMA, just more than 3,600 homes in Baker flooded, with about 40 percent of those homes took on more than two feet of water.

"I was just crying," Waites said. "I remember just rising and crying...but now I know there's a God."

Waites said FEMA brought in a recovery plan.

"We took that recovery plan and turned it into a strategic plan and we built this city based on what they said they wanted and we did it together," he said.

With the assistance of Garret Graves, Waites said he secured $1.7 million to help rebuild Baker High School, which officially reopened in 2024. Waites said the city of Baker is stronger, residents are more unified and the business community is back and growing.

Dunn showed off one of the items checked off his wish list after the 2016 flood, a high water truck. He also wants to secure two boats for his police department. He hopes there will never be a next time, but they will be prepared.

"I can be in Hi Nabor, I can be in Sam's, I can be in Walmart, I can be in Home Depot. It could be somebody that was six at the time, they gon' come give me a hug man or woman and say, 'You might not remember me, but I rode out that water in your boat,'" Dunn said.

WBRZ's flood anniversary special, "Rising Above: Ten Years After the Great Flood," premieres Aug. 15 at 1 p.m. on WBRZ and WBRZ Plus.