On April 14, 1967, Baton Rouge experienced a weather event worth remembering, even in a region with a trying history of heavy rain and flooding. A storm system stalled over the region, dumping a record-breaking foot of rain in a matter of hours, paralyzing transportation, and triggering widespread flooding that many residents had never seen before.
The deluge began in the early morning hours of Friday, April 14, 1967. By 11 a.m., the U.S. Weather Bureau at Ryan Airport reported that more than 10 inches of rain had fallen in just nine hours—doubling the city’s typical average for the entire month of April.
By the time the storm let up, the official record for the day stood at a staggering 11.99 inches of rain. In some parts of the parish, totals were reported as high as 14 inches, falling at a rate of nearly an inch per hour for half of the day.
Cathy Heckman emailed the Storm Station, stating that she remembers the day well:…