13 people were rescued from a fishing boat that collided with a container ship off the Virginia coast. (Virginia Commercial Ocean Ferry, via AP)
A boat carrying about 40 people overturned with many more feared dead on the Virginia coast on Saturday during a storm that killed at least one person and caused massive flooding in Louisiana.
All 10 people aboard the 31-foot cabin cruiser were rescued after it overturned off the coast of Virginia Beach Saturday morning, according to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. They were in good condition.
More than a dozen people were on board when the boat ran into the side of the container ship carrying 20,000 metric tons of food, supplies and petroleum products.
By the time the two ships collided, the passenger ship was in the middle of a dangerous storm as the winds rose to more than 50 mph and the seas were up to six feet, said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Paul Gonsalves.
The collision between the two ships caused the container ship to tip over onto its side. Both ships are still listing.
The American Red Cross said the storm caused massive flooding and damaged the area around New Orleans. Water reached as high as 18 feet and some streets in New Orleans were underwater.
The Red Cross said it sent food and supplies to areas that were hit particularly hard. It said it sent more than 1 million pounds of supplies to Louisiana.
The New Orleans metropolitan area suffered the worst flooding in decades, even worse than in 2005, when more than 130 people died when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal activated the National Guard to help with rescue operations, said spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
In Virginia Beach, the Coast Guard called off its search for missing people aboard the passenger ship and said it was no longer searching for the missing Coast Guard cutter.
The two ships were not in danger of sinking, the National Guard said.
The crash happened about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the Virginia coast, according to the National Weather Service.
“This should be a happy day,” said Petty Officer 3nd Class David O’Quinn, one of several Coast Guard members helping in