The floodwaters crept toward his mother’s home.
Then Deon Simon lost contact with her.
Panic washed over the Jets defensive lineman as he tried in vain to reach his mother. Last he heard, the water was rising steadily. There was no telling where she was.
More than 1,300 miles northeast of his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Simon tried to keep calm and think rationally. But with each passing minute, he couldn’t help but wonder: “Where could she be? Did somebody have to get her in a boat and take her to higher ground?”
As of Tuesday, at least 11 people had died, officials said, from the record-breaking rain and flooding that inundated southern Louisiana.